The Human Nobody War
by Firestorm Studios
Summary: Prequel to Glorious Advance. The Nobodies have struck the Destiny Islands with a fleet of warships, to spark a conflict that will push humanity to its last stand, and leave both sides in ruin. The last hope lies with with only a few.
1. First Contact: Destiny Islands

Greetings once more, to everyone! You may be wondering, 'Where the hell did this come from?'Well, you see, whilst writing Glorious Advance, I started the fic nine months into the Human-Nobody War. This left a lot of space open, and so I decided to create another fic which would fill in the gaps and provide some reading enjoyment about the first nine months in the war! I also decided that, seeing as it was practically the beginning, I would take 'Contact Destiny' off Glorious Advance and place it here as the first chapter. So, a lot of you long-time readers will have nothing new here! For new readers, beware. There are a lot of OC's, so you'd be better off checking out Glorious Advance first. But of course, I cannot forget that GA was, in the first place, a Tribute-Sequel to SkyLandOcean's wonderful works 'The Newest, Youngest, Hippest Organization XIII', 'We Are Family', 'Emitte Lucem Et Veritatem' and 'A Sick And Twisted Game' - They are some of the best Fanfiction on this site, and I give you the utmost reccommendation to read them! I won't update this one too regularly, so enjoy the chapters you get! This chapter I originally wrote for SkyLandOcean's birthday, and it measures in at over 13000 words! So, whether you're reading this again or just starting, enjoy!

The Human-Nobody War

Chapter 1 - First Contact: Destiny Islands

AOTW - Alliance of the Worlds, a newly set-up military force agreed to by all the rulers of every human inhabited world in the known universe. Centred in Hollow Bastion, the AOTW promises safety and prosperity to all those under her wing by use of a skilled and efficient Marine force, stationed in interplanetary warships. These forces swear a creed never to harm civilians, and to always bring down those who are a threat to the peace.

It wasn't even dawn, and the Marines were in the air. "Hey girls!" Heather Frances called out over the radio. "Looks like we slept in again!" Laughter chorused out over the radio. Heather had once heard that there was "nothing more savage than a helicopter on the hunt." It's reputation proved strong, as the six diagonal-facing blades on the three Alliance of the Worlds 'Eagle' Aerial Reconnaissance vehicles ripped through the dark air, tearing apart Hollow Bastion's tranquil pre-dawn atmosphere. Inside each one was three AOTW marines sitting in cramped passenger seats, along with a pilot and the last facing a backwards gun turret position.

Each of the Eagles looked like a small version of 21st-Century helicopters, but the similarities ended there. Instead of having one central blade, each hawk has a blade on either side, facing diagonal as not to collide with one another. The Eagles flew in a triangle manner – the two in front had their usual payload of missile pods and two gatling guns, but the one behind carried a very special weapon.

In the last Eagle was Lieutenant Heather Frances. In her hands she cradled a large crate, inside of which was the most powerful ground infantry weapon in human history, aside from high-explosives such as rocket launchers and tanks. The Gauss cannon was powered by 25 spinning magnets, which caused friction. The cannon stored the heat created by the friction and, when it has enough, injects a long bullet into the heat energy and fires it with the force of a jet aircraft.

The resulting blast that the Gauss cannon fired was deadly accurate, with the explosive force you'd expect from an air-to-ground missile. The blast's temperature averaged at around one thousand - two hundred degrees Celsius, and could go through 5.4 metres of solid steel. The cannon's one downside was the splash of the blast - anything 3 metres within the impact of the Gauss blast would be knocked off their feet, or if incredibly close, killed. Her mission was simple – kill the target as soon as her troops and civilians were out of danger.

Today their mission was to kill a dangerous leader of a rebellion who threatened to bring war to all the human race. The AOTW Marine Squad 27, the 'Femme Fatale' had to take him out. Operation KNOCKOUT. Oo-rah.

The Eagle carrying Heather hovered down, low enough to where Heather jumped off the small troop-carrying area, carrying the massive case that contained her Gauss cannon with her. The Eagle immediately took off again, and as the small squadron continued toward the restaurant where they had located the target, Heather opened the case and set up the stand, beginning to put the gun itself together.

Meanwhile, the Eagles landed, and nine Alliance of the Worlds marines ran into the restaurant, yelling at a family – two parents, one boy and one girl – to get down. They quickly found their man, hiding underneath a table. Sergeant Olinda, second-in-command to Heather, cringed as she approached the cowering man. "Coward…" She whispered under her breath, then addressed her marines. "Cass, Tamara, take this scum outside and give him what was coming to him."

Cass and Tamara nodded, and dragged the man outside. A few seconds later, three gunshots were heard, and the deed was done. Suddenly they heard a beeping noise. It was coming from Alysha's direction. She pulled out the device beeping, and the marines saw with horror that it was the FOF (Friend Or Foe) Tagger. She looked up. "Sergeant, we've got a hostile somewhere in the building."

Suddenly, the door to the bathroom burst open, and a woman wearing a red trenchcoat jumped out, firing a pistol. The three shots she fired hit the wall, splintering the wood behind. Sergeant Olinda quickly pulled up her radio. "Cass, Tamara, stay outside unless we call you. Heather, take the shot with the Gauss."

"DON'T MOVE!" Screamed the woman, pressing her gun at the innocent four year-old boy's head. The young boy's parents looked mortified, and the young boy's sister was crying, albeit quietly.

"HEATHER! TAKE THE SHOT!" Sergeant Olinda screamed, aiming her attack rifle at the rebel. Louise and Alysha had dived behind tables, trying to find a way to take out the rebel before the killed the boy.

Two Kilometres away, Heather sat at the turret of the Gauss cannon, and she had no doubt that if she fired, she would kill both the child and the rebel. "Firing..." She said, trying to stay Olinda's desperate trigger finger. "Firing..." She looked through her scope at the last second, and adjusted her aim so that the targeting reticule was at the very edge of a fatal shot. Now, she could take the shot without worries of the child being killed. "Firing!" She said.

She pulled the trigger, and the twenty-five magnetic coils began spinning together at a rate of seven thousand spins per minute. A loud crack was heard, and Heather saw the white line of energy speed toward its target. She looked through the scope again and saw, to her dismay, that while she'd been taking the shot, the rebel had moved. All of the glass in the restaurant shattered as an explosion racked the room, tearing the counter of the restaurant in half and leaving a small crater in the floor. Every person, marine or civilian, ducked down, except for Olinda.

The woman threw the child to the side, and pulled out a detonator connected to bombs all over her body. Olinda dived to protect the civilians with her body as the rebel blew up, engulfing the restaurant in flames.

Five hundred metres away, Heather ran from her Gauss cannon as the restaurant exploded in front of her. She covered her mouth with her hand in horror.

-a-

AOTW Ship _Rinoa_, Undisclosed date and time – Three days after Operation KNOCKOUT.

"AOTW Marine Squad 27. The 'Femme Fatale'. One of the AOTW's finest and most prestigious Marine squads. Commanded by Lieutenant Frances, Heather. Second in command was one Sergeant Olinda, am I correct?"

"Absolutely correct, Sir."

Heather was standing in front of Admiral Leon, the top gun of the AOTW. They were in a dark room with a single table, where Leon examined the report of the mission.

"Luckily most of your squad survived. Four lived, albeit are in critical condition. Olinda is in the most stable condition, expected to make a full recovery shortly. It turns out that jumping to save the civilians was what saved her from an otherwise inevitable death."

"I am sorry, Admiral. My lack in timing and correction caused many casualties." Heather said shamefully, hoping the inquisition would finish soon.

"YOU'RE GOD-DAMNED RIGHT IT DID!" Leon yelled, swinging around. "Your girl, Olinda, managed to save the boy and his mother. The father was killed. 7 restaurant staff were killed. And most disgusting, FOUR MARINES DIED!" Heather winced as Leon swung his fist into the table, a clenched fist. A small crack appeared in the table. "We've already lost four recruits over this incident, Heather. You're stripped of your rank of Lieutenant, and you're being reassigned."

"Sir? If I may, where am I being re-posted to?" Heather asked curiously.

"Were it up to me, Heather, you would be being re-posted to your homeworld in civilian clothes with a dishonourable discharge." He paused, then continued. "But Admiral Anissem, the old guy himself – Has personally requested you as a Sergeant in the training of marines on the Destiny Islands. Not just that, the guy seems to love you. He's giving you full access to anything you need on both the AOTW _Hybrid Theory_ and the Radiance."

Heather recalled the name. Admiral Anissem was the most senior Admiral in the fleet, and viewed by many as one of the best. His ship, the _Hybrid Theory_, was a heavy battleship – the first 'Heavy' in the fleet. Heather respected the Admiral just for the fact that he captained the _Theory_ with pride and with no regrets, even though many considered Heavies to be one of the reasons the rebels were fighting.

"Heather, you'll be leaving on the AOTW _Playing With Fire_. This warship is a light warship, and you'll be going with Commander Alex, one of the former members of the New Organization." Leon informed her, dropping schematics of the ship in front of Heather. "Now get out of my sight."

-b-

"Inbound vector, Destiny Islands." One of the Tech people said. "And here she is, ladies and gentlemen – the Radiance." Suddenly, all the bridge crew turned toward the viewscreen. On it appeared a glittering row of sparks, the light illuminating the human ships hovering around it. Then they passed the sun's glare, to reveal that the Radiance was a huge cylinder floating in space. "10 Kilometres long, and 2 Kilometres in circumference…" She continued, also staring in awe at the spectacle.

Suddenly the ship's radio cracked on, and a strong, yet casual voice flowed through. "Glad you guys could make it! Welcome to the Destiny Islands, local time 0430, weather is snowing! This is Admiral Vincienzo Anissem, Captain of the AOTW _Hybrid Theory_. I trust you're all ready to stay here! Just proceed to the Radiance and they will grant you docking clearance. We don't have any big ships in at the moment, so we're happy to see the _Playing With Fire_ around!"

"Sir, who is around?" The ship's captain and a former member of the New Organization, Alex, asked.

"Well, just a few hours ago we had Captain Strife here on the _Advent of War_, but he isn't around anymore. Just us now. But we do have the Radiance's new Artificial Intelligence. Cloud chose her personality, and it's the perfect one for the situation!"

"Well then, if she's an Engineer-Type AI as I presume, then I'd love to meet her – my mother taught me everything she knew about mechanics and engineering." Ares said, walking forward. She had come to see the beautiful Destiny Islands once more.

-c-

The World That Never Was, lower city sanctum – The Final Phase of Reconstruction

Bearish roars filled the city streets, as well as animalistic screams and battle cries. All around, confused Dusks, Dragoons, Dancers, and all Nobodies imaginable flew to cover as Samurais confronted Berserkers, many corpses fading away in the streets.

A single Samurai walked through the streets, ignoring the chaos around. Other Samurais bowed their respects to him, keeping dignity even as Berserker carcasses burned in bonfires or simply lay rotting. In some cases though, Samurais had been killed and Berserkers roared at him as he passed, but not daring to make any sort of hostile action. Why? Because he was a Harbinger.

The Harbinger was a position of ceremonial and religious power. It was given to one who had wronged the cause of the Nobodies – betrayed the Final Journey. It was a position that had no power and yet, all the power in the world. He was able to overrule the decision of most commanders, yet he held no greater a political position than most Dusks. On the battlefield he was the most capable trooper, yet if he was mortally injured even the medics were told to let him die. He was a messiah and a heretic. An image of the Nobodies, but also an image of shame. He was the Assassin of the Organization, the mightiest of the mighty Samurai. He was ceremonial, vicious, and ashamed. He was the Harbinger.

Two Berserkers approached him. Both were wearing armour with black stripes, the armour worn by the guards of the Castle That Never Was. One of them growled and pulled out its hammer. He quickly whipped out his sword – the faithful blade that has served his family for generations – Caineghis. The Berserker stopped as the blade, burning with plasma around the blade, inched closer to his neck. The other one charged and attacked, only for him to swing around, blade in hand, and sever the brute clean in half. The other stood there, whimpering. "Activate the path, please." He asked the Berserker and he, still frightened half to death, happily stepped on the switch to send the path of light that leads up to the Castle That Never Was.

In Organization XIII's private hall, The Samurai could hear arguing. Berserker Castle Guards stood guard around, eyeing the Harbinger and, more importantly, the blade on his waist. He approached to where three Samurais were talking to three members of the Organization. One of them was his own brother, Vice. Vice had great skill in combat, but his manners left something to be desired. He probably wasn't the best choice to discuss things with the Organization – the boy didn't know when to shut up.

"You have forsaken us." Vice growled. "Forever, since the first unity of the Nobodies, have we been the guardians of the Organization! And now these… these… FILTH," Vice barked, his hand pointing at a Berserker, "have led an uprising! My Lords, how can you stand back and simply watch as the ones who have protected you for so long are simply pushed aside?"

He caught sight of the three Vice was talking to - Three members of the Organization sat in hovering chairs before them. Axe recognized them as Xemnas, of course, our leader. Then there was Xaldin, the best warrior amongst the Organization, and finally, Saix, Xemnas' right hand man. "Please, Ship Master. This 'uprising' as you call it is no more than a shift. According to the bloodshed, some see it to be a much more serious transition… But the Keybearers destroyed us. Only now were we able to get back on our feet, and only now can we see that the Samurais were obviously unfit to protect the Organization from Sora. Otherwise, we never would have been sent to the Infinity Void." Xemnas reasoned, causing one of the other two Samurais with Vice to growl.

Vice held his hand in front of the other Samurai as if to hold him back. "Now now, Ictus." He said, then turned back to the three Organization members. "Great leaders. Can you really blame us? A lack of order about us – Roxas had betrayed the Organization! We had no leader, no Harbinger, and none to help us co-ordinate a counterattack! If only command of us had been given to another Organization member-"

"Are you opposing my decision to leave you to yourselves as a capable peacekeeping force?" Xemnas asked menacingly.

"No, my Lords. I just wish to voice my worries that the Berserkers have not the discipline nor the warrior's finesse to protect you from the age of danger we now live in." Vice said, placing his hand on his chest and bowing.

"Well, now that your worries have been voiced, I would like you to note that the Samurais still have the mandate of leading our armies… But from this point on, Samurais are to take second seat on ALL decisions regarding homeworld defence and guard." Xemnas said. He then laced his next words with poison. "And that is the Organization's decree. You cannot deny it."

Vice growled distastefully. "I will report your… **decree** to the Samurai council." He snorted, and left with his two troops. Vice nodded respectfully at his brother, and the Harbinger nodded back.

"Ah, at last a voice of reason… our new Harbinger. Tell me, Axe, how does the ceremonial armour suit you?" Xemnas asked.

"It befits one of my crime." Axe growled. "But nonetheless, my punishment is no excuse for my brother's behaviour. He is a passionate warrior and a fine leader, but his civility leaves much to be desired."

"Quite so." Xemnas said in agreement. "I would have you flog him until his discipline was learnt, but we have a much more important task. A task so important that we see it fit, for the first time in Nobody history, for you to be relinquished from the position of Harbinger should you succeed."

Axe's eyes lit up, and he bowed low. "Noble hierarchs, such kindness is unprecedented! If we had hearts, then mine would be forever in your debt!"

"The mission… Is seizing a holy artefact." Xemnas said, and Axe instantly turned serious.

"I see. If I may, my liege, what is the artefact?" Axe asked, when suddenly a Berserker walked in.

"The object is, we believe, an observer." The Berserker growled. His armour was orange and black in places, the mark of the Berserker Overlord. (A/N: Yes, the same one that Cass blew to pieces in Chapter 11!)

"An Observer? Overseer of the holy Fortress of the Crystals?" Axe asked incredulously.

"Indeed." Xemnas said. "We're getting you to take a pack of Samurais – your brother included – and have you go to this world, retrieve the Observer, and come back."

Axe bowed. "By your command, milord. But if I may, what ship shall I command?"

"Filth don't get to command ships!" The Berserker growled, furious that it was not he who was doing this noble duty for the Nobodies.

"Peace, Gard." Xemnas said to the Berserker, then turned back to Axe. "We are giving you command of the ship _Faith In Conversion_. Now go, we have nothing more to say to you."

"Thy bidding be done." Axe growled, then turned to leave.

-d-

"Admiral Anissem". Commander Alex said, shaking the man's hand whilst Heather and Ares snapped salutes. "Commander Alex, captain of the AOTW _Playing With Fire_, reporting with Lieutenant Ares James, and Sergeant Heather Frances, both here by your request."

"So I see." Anissem said, shaking both girl's hands. "Heather, I'd like you to come with me. Ares, I want you to introduce yourself to the marines, post haste!" He commanded.

"Belay that order, Admiral." Said a voice. Anissem turned to see Commander Auron, Captain of the AOTW Ship _Bullet In A Bible_, walking towards them. "With all due respect, Admiral, Ares has a much more important job to do. Ares, I'd like you to check the boiler metre in the central ventilation system." He said, tapping his wrist data reader and poking at a point on the 3-D map of the Radiance. "Can you do that?"

"Absolutely, Sir!" Ares said, saluted and walked off in the direction her map outlined. Anissem saluted Alex and Auron, and began to walk with Heather following. They entered a room labelled 'Weaponry Demonstration'.

"Hello," a mature female's voice said. "Admiral Anissem, who is this lovely young lady you have with you?" It asked in a false-flirty sort of way.

Anissem laughed. "Sorry, Waikana. I'm not here on a romantic business. I just want to show Heather here my big guns." Anissem laughed, and so did the AI and Heather.

"Alright then, accessing question. Give me your full name and favourite song." Waikana said, having already scanned Anissem's retinas.

"Vincienzo Bill Anissem, and my favourite **symphony**, not song, is Beethoven's 5th Symphony. Speaking of which, could you please put it on for us?" Anissem asked.

"Can do." Waikana said, and the music filled the room. "Your identity is confirmed. Have a nice day, Admiral. And you too, Lieutenant Heather Frances." Waikana said as the doors to the elevator opened.

"Thank you Waikana, we shall." Anissem said as he and Heather stepped into the elevator. The old Admiral pressed the button, and the lift started chugging its way through the Radiance.

"Who was that? And how did she know my name?" Heather asked.

"Behold, the wonders of technology. You are, of course, registered in the AOTW's database. All she needs do is scan your retina, and she knows your name, rank, height and weight, blood type, personal details, and things not even you would know about yourself."

"But who is she?"

"Her name is Waikana. She's one of the first in the AOTW's experimental Artificial Intelligence, A.I., division. The average IQ of these Artificial Intelligences often breach the millions. Even the dumbest one can perform billions of calculations within a second."

"I'm aware of the A.I.s, Sir, but her M.H. – her Memory Host. Who is it?"

"She was an Al-Bhed, an engineering genius. Her knowledge of maintenance, repairing and engineering made her the perfect fit for the Radiance. She died in a tragic accident, but we managed to piece together memories of her from various subjects and transferred it into data. As a result the A.I. has the real Waikana's personality, appearance, memories, and abilities – and then some."

Anissem paused for a second. "But, Heather, she also happens to be Ares' mother, an accident waiting to happen should Ares find out. Just between you and me, I'd keep it a secret." He finished, placing his finger over his lips for emphasis.

"Weapons Testing." The elevator voice rang out, and both Anissem and I walked out into a HUGE hangar area. Targets were set up on one wall, hundreds of rifles were holstered in the wall, and vehicles were just sitting there.

"Alright." Anissem said, rubbing his hands together. "Let's have some fun!" He led Heather over to the rifle caches. "The AOTW has been making changes to the standard issue armament of all marines. Now, marines, upon enlistment, have the chance to choose 2 out of 4 weapons." He said, pointing to four weapons on a table.

He picked one up. "First, this is the combat rifle. It fires 15-rounds per second, full automatic." He fired against the target, and many bullet holes peppered the target, knocking it to the ground. He handed it for Heather to try it out and she did, satisfied by the gun's outburst.

He picked up the second. "This is the attack rifle. It fires one bullet at a time, semi-automatic of course. Holding the trigger will give one bullet every half a second, with 30 bullets in the clip – half of the combat rifle's."

He then picked up two handheld weapons. "These are your sidearms. This is the Submachine Gun but of course everyone calls it the SMG. It's basically a smaller, fill-the-air-with-bullets insurance policy. And this is the pistol. It's like the attack rifle, only the bullets are much, much less powerful, you can't zoom in, and there's only ten shots to a clip." He explained, and Heather nodded.

"Sir, I'm guessing that Marines have to pick one of their rifles, then their sidearm is of the opposite to the rifle? For example if I were to choose the attack rifle, my sidearm would be the SMG?" Heather asked the admiral.

"Absolutely correct, Heather." He then lead Heather over to another section. "These are the rocket launcher, mine set, incendiary grenade and flamethrower. The rocket launchers and mine sets are standard issue for explosive demolitions teams only, while the flamethrower and incendiary grenade are standard issue for clearance and firesweeper teams only." He said, continuing to walk past the heavy weapons.

"This is where the excitement's at!" He said, lifting up a heavy-looking rifle from the cache. "Shotgun! My favourite weapon!" He promptly lifted it, and fired it at the target. The target instantly buckled under the weapon's fire, and Anissem threw it up into the air, caught it, and slung it on his back. "This lucky shotgun has served me for **years**. Try it out!" He said, handing it to her.

Heather picked it up and, in a rush of adrenalin, pumped shells into the nearest target. She then grinned, and gave the weapon back to him.

"Now Heather, this last weapon is hot from the factories. I only have three – all the others are in Hollow Bastion and Twilight Town." He hefted the weapon – its casing was two rectangles joined to form a handle and mechanism. The top was dominated by a huge, wide scope – and from it protruded a barrel, very thin, about three quarters of a metre. "This is the Armour-Piercing Gas-Operated 569 Sniper Rifle… Or just the sniper for short. Now, I want you to have this, and I want the other staff Sergeant to have the other. Then, I want you to choose one Marine from your squad to have the last one. Choose carefully. Do I make myself clear?"

"Crystal, Sir." Heather said as Anissem handed her the rifle, and pulled up two cases holding the others. "I'd best go and see the Marines."

-e-

Ares walked into the Central Ventilation system, observing the machinery around. It was fancy chrome and steel, but they were just the same old machines. She immediately checked the boiler metre – all was well. Then, she noticed something – oxygen recycling was playing up in Sector 2. _"Well, better fix that."_ She thought to herself, and began tweaking the machine.

Suddenly Ares heard a fizzing sound behind her. Ares rolled her eyes – Damn AOTW Artificial Intelligences were so stuck-up, they thought they were Kings and Queens. Undoubtedly it would try to tell her what to do. "Do you have permission to tamper with Area 2's oxygen recycling system, Ms James-Rossel?" It asked. Ares rolled her eyes again.

"No… I was sent to check on the boiler metre, it's fine, and realised that the oxygen recycling system was down." Ares said irritably, without turning around.

The A.I. thought for a second, and then laughed, a striking and oddly familiar laugh to Ares. "Of course, Ms James-Rossel. Thank you for alerting me to the problem. If you should leave the problem here, I will deal with it in a matter of seconds."

"Erm, excuse me!" Ares snapped. "I think I know a lot about friggin' boiler metres! Do you know who my mother was?" Ares lost it, and spun around to face the hologram. "My mother taught me everything she-" Ares stopped, and stared in bewilderment.

There, standing with a sad smile on her face and a single tear running down her cheek, was Waikana – Ares' mother. "You've grown." She said.

Ares rubbed her eyes, but nothing could stop the tears, a mix of sadness and joy. Ares said nothing, but ran up toward Waikana and embraced the pedestal holding her hologram. "I… I can't believe this… Is this real?" She asked, in between sniffs.

"Yes sweetie, it is…" Waikana said softly, also crying. How cruel fate was. At last, reunited. But they could not embrace. After a five-minute period of both crying, Ares stood up, her tears gone and a smile on her face.

"Mum! You're… You're alive! How they get your memories? Who ordered your construction? How are you? I… I love you!" Ares burst out, wrapping her arms around the hologram's waist.

"My my, so many questions! The only thing that's changed about you is your look, Ares!" Her mother exclaimed.

Ares' eyes snapped open. Questions. The things that had killed her mother.

_-Flashback_

(A/N: The following extract from _Emitte Lucem Et Veritatem_, by SkyLandOcean)

_"I guess. Just remember, when you're in a bad situation, fight your way out. Even if you have to build a car from paperclips, and safety pins, and things."_

_"When would I ever need to do that?"_

_"Well, you neve-" She was cut off by a loud explosion, when the petrol in the engine came in contact with sparks. Even to this day Ares didn't know how it could have happened, but blamed herself. If she hadn't distracted her, maybe Waikana would have noticed the sparks and gotten away._

_-End Flashback_

"I'm… I'm sorry." Ares said, her eyes tearing up again. Her mother looked down at Ares inquisitively, a curious, happy look. "If I hadn't d-distracted you, y-you might not have…"

Suddenly the blue hologram placed its hand on Ares' head. "Ares… Sweetheart…" Ares looked up. "…I **never** blamed you. I would've rather died being a good mother to you, answering your questions, loving you… Than lived in neglect of you…"

Ares nodded. She knew the truth now. All was well. Only one thing remained. "Mum, when you were talking to me, you couldn't reveal your identity to me. I know A.I.'s… who told you to keep your identity a secret from me?"

Waikana looked unsure. "I can't say the name. However, he did tell one other human. Heather Frances."

Heather went up on tiptoes and kissed the empty air that was the hologram's cheek. "I'll see you later, Mum. I gotta go deal with something." She walked out the door, her hand checking Angel and Demon's ammo caches.

-f-

Heather walked into the barracks, and Marines suited. She saw they were not looking at her, however, but rather, at the other Sergeant. She was also female, with short black hair. Heather smiled and walked up to her, the girl's back facing her. "I'm Lieutenant Heather Frances, the other commander of this-"

"We've met." The girl said, turning around. Heather stepped back in shock. Standing before Heather, a horrific burn on her face, was Olinda. "The doctors say I'll heal completely. I say I shouldn't have to." Olinda lowered her head. "Why, Heather…" She whispered softly.

"Olinda, I – pardon?" Heather asked, unsure of what to say.

"I said WHY!?" Olinda screamed, restraining herself to hit Heather. "WHY DIDN'T YOU TAKE THE SHOT EARLIER!?"

"I couldn't judge! The woman was unpredictable, she could have killed someone at any point!" Heather said forcefully, justifying her actions. "Look, Olinda, I'm so sorry, I –"

"No, Heather, it's okay. If you'd fired earlier, more civilians would have been killed. I'm sorry I lashed out." Olinda said, calming.

Heather smiled. "So, what've we got here?" She asked, handing Olinda the second Sniper Rifle.

"Well, we got a bunch of apes, as usual." Olinda joked, and everyone laughed. "Looks like you got one last sniper there. Kevin's our best shot, he can take it." Olinda said, and Heather tossed the case at the Marine, who caught it. "MARINES! ROLL CALL!" Olinda shouted.

"Kevin! Good to meet you, Lieutenant!"

"Cass! Remember me right, Heather?"

"Tamara! We're lucky to have you once more, Heather!"

"Catherine! I look forward to training, Ma'am!"

"Louise! Pleasure to work with you again, ma'am!"

"Alysha! Good to see you again, Heather!"

"Only six?" Heather asked.

"More like six thousand. We've got all the other ships coming in very soon." Olinda explained. Suddenly the PA turned on.

"Lieutenant Heather Frances, please report to Admiral Anissem to oversee the arrival of the fleet."

"Speak of the devil; I'll see you later, Heather!" Olinda called after Heather as she waved goodbye and went to the meeting point. She arrived there, and Admiral Anissem raised his arms in greeting. They heard loud, heavy footsteps, and turned to see Ares.

"YOU!" Ares screamed, storming up to Heather. "YOU KNEW THAT MY MOTHER'S AI WAS ON THE RADIANCE - WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME?" Ares pulled out Demon and forced it to Heather's face.

"Sergeant Major, stand down!" Anissem yelled, at a voice that was surprisingly intimidating for a man in his early fifties.

Heather was taken aback, but quickly drew her SMG and held the sidearm in front of Ares' gut. Ares looked undaunted.

"I didn't tell you because I knew your emotions would could your judgment!" Heather yelled back, then added, "Ma'am."

Ares dropped her jaw in surprise and disbelief. Even when being threatened by death, Heather still took rank into account. Ares dropped Demon, and took Angel out of its holster, also dropping it. "Then let's disregard rank." Ares said calmly.

Heather dropped her SMG, and took her attack rifle off her back. "Rank is no longer an issue?" She asked Ares, who nodded. Heather smiled, and threw a punch. It caught Ares in the jaw, and sent her reeling into the walls.

"Lieutenant!" Anissem growled, only to see Ares roar a battle scream and tackle Heather, easily hitting her off the floor and onto the ground. Heather quickly jumped to her feet and kneed Ares in the back, making her stagger forward.

"YOU FUCKING BITCH!" Ares shrieked, turning around and grabbing Heather's SMG off the floor. Heather attempted to make a jab and disarm Ares, but she swung the sidearm and hit Heather in the head with it, making Heather cry out in pain and drop to all fours.

Suddenly, a massive bang resonated through the hall, causing Heather, Ares, and all the watching Marines to cover their ears and look toward the source of the sound. Anissem stood there, his Shotgun in hand pointing toward the roof, its barrel smoking. He looked furious.

"Sergeant Major! Lieutenant! The conduct I just had the misfortune to see was a disgrace to the AOTW!" He roared, slinging his Shotgun back over his back. He then noticed Heather's head was bleeding from the impact of the SMG.

"Olinda, please escort Heather here to the medical bay." Anissem said, and Olinda nodded. "Ares, you report as to why you just threatened a fellow officer with death!"

Ares stepped forward. "Oh, so what? The fault is all mine, Sir? Even though it was that bitch who kept my mother's existence from me?" She demanded, tears in her eyes.

"Relax Ares, with luck this will blow over. Follow me." Anissem said, beginning to walk away with Ares following.

-g-

The ship _Faith In Conversion_ sped through subspace, its sleek exterior seemingly folding into the stars as it flew at it's faster-than-light speed. In the ship's eating halls, a pack of ravenous Samurai Nobodies were preparing for their feast: several large pigs, delicacy to human and Nobody alike. Diligently cooked by the Dusk chefs, the Samurais had to contend with their mouths watering to eat the delicious feast. However, they had the discipline to wait for their pack leader to recite the tale of the five Phases, and then to bless their food.

"Fellow warriors! We stand with a great feast before us, and beyond it, the chance to do a deed for the Nobodies so noble, so GLORIOUS, that we must see the five ages to truly discover what impact we have!" Axe roared, and all the Samurais let out prideful growls as response. "THE FIRST PHASE, SEPERATION!" Axe bellowed.

"CHAOS AND VULNERABILITY! ANARCHY AND WEAKNESS!" All the Samurais roared back.

"The ten races of the Nobodies, spread out across space, at war with each other! We were foolish, primitive! But then… THE SECOND PHASE, COMBINATION!"

"UNITY AND GLORY! CONSTRUCTION AND BELIEF!"

"The ten races: Dusks, Creepers, Dragoons, Assassins, Snipers, Dancers, the barbaric Berserkers, Gamblers, Sorcerers and us, the Samurais, joined together and built an empire, with thirteen powerful leaders. We obliterated our enemies, and were the most powerful force in the universe, until…" He paused to growl. "THE THIRD AGE, DEMISE!"

"DESTRUCTION AND HOPELESSNESS! BETRAYAL AND DEFEAT!"

"The Keyblade Wielder, Sora, found Castle Oblivion. Little did we know that he was led there by Marluxia, who wanted to take over the Organization. Sora destroyed him and the other traitor Larxene, and then had to sleep to regain the memories he'd lost. During this time, Ansem The Wise began to plot against us! He kidnapped Roxas and placed him in a simulation. Roxas then restored Sora, who turned his Keyblade upon us, and destroyed us wholly and completely. We were all stuck in the Infinity Void, to be lost forever, until… THE FOURTH AGE, RECONSTRUCTION!"

"ESCAPE AND RETURN! REBUILDING AND REFORMING!"

"And that is our current age. When Sora's sister unknowingly opened the Infinity Void to get her Nobody back, we streamed out as well! We returned to our homeworlds, where we began reforming our covenant, and reconstructing all that we had lost. This age is in the shadow of defeat, but soon will come… THE FIFTH AGE, TRANSCENDANCE!"

"WAR AND VICTORY! ACTIVATION AND SALVATION!"

"Yes! At last, we shall wage a final war on the humans, retrieve the Holy Crystal, find the sacred Fortress of The Crystals, and at last take salvation - activate the Fortress, and you, I, and all our brothers will be propelled into bliss, and transcendence will be ours at last!"

At this, all the other Samurais forgot about their hunger and jumped to their feet, roaring in pride. After Axe nodded, the Samurais sat down to eat. Axe reached and pulled a leg off the pig, watching the glistening meats and fat simmer in his hands, the soft texture hiding the salty, delicious taste. (A/N: Hungry yet? XD)

He leaned in to take a bite, but then his communicator rang. Any Berserker would have shouted and cursed the caller, but not a Samurai. Axe put down his dinner and contacted back. "What is it?" He asked calmly.

"We have a problem with the artefact." Vice said. Axe looked around. Of all the days when other members of his pack were stationed in the bridge, and the others in the feasting hall, why did Vice have to be in the bridge?

"Very well, expect me there soon." Axe growled, stood, and turned to leave. Ravenous Samurais grunted unhappily, knowing they had to wait for the pack leader. The Harbinger turned to them. "Eat, my brothers! Feast, but leave my share for me." Axe commanded, and left.

There was a short pause, but soon the noise of famished Samurais gobbling and fighting over the feast filled the hall. Axe trudged the hallways of the ship, eventually reaching the bridge. Vice and he were the only Samurais on the bridge – The ship was occupied by 11 Samurais, and three hundred Dusks.

"Brother," Axe growled to Vice. "What is so important that you tear me from my feast?"

"I apologise, Axe." Vice said back. Axe growled; Vice was the only one who called him by his first name directly. "Our problem is this: The world we are heading for is the Destiny Islands, home of the Keybearers." Vice growled. "A human-infested world, and the artefact is mostly likely some form of human Artificial Intelligence that our searchers mistook for Seraph ruins."

"Stay on course, Vice." Axe said. "Even if you're right… We can still start a war. Contact The World That Never Was, and ask for the _Vessel Of Fury_. We come out of subspace in two days. Time it so that they arrive shortly after us."

-h-

Anissem and Ares watched out the viewscreen of the Radiance. "This is Admiral Vincienzo Anissem, Captain of the AOTW _Hybrid Theory_. Fleet of Marching Liberation, you are cleared for entry."

Suddenly five ships burst out of subspace. "Admiral Joseph Edwards, AOTW _Reanimation_!" Yelled a voice from the first.

"Captain Cloud Strife, AOTW _Meteora_!"

"Commander Sephiroth, AOTW _Collision Course_."

"Captain Zexion, AOTW _Minutes To Midnight_!"

"Admiral Leon, AOTW _Rinoa_."

"Well, the whole group's here." Anissem said. "Let's get to work."

-I-

The next two days passed in peace. As the Harbinger and his troops readied for war, Ares spent time with her mother, and Heather kicked some Marines into shape with Ollie. Anissem barely slept over the days, instead looking after the constant ruptures in Subspace from the five ship's sudden teleportation. Most of them were just random rifts, but one…

"Anissem, Sir? We have a subspace rupture over the Islands' dark side." A tech man said, and Anissem walked over and looked at the screen, swirling the coffee in his mug.

"Looks like some random light and teleportation rifts. Just leave it be." Anissem said back.

"Uhh… No Sir! We have an object, a ship, moving in!" The tech man shouted, causing Anissem to watch in shock at the object coming out of subspace. The ship was smooth, almost as if it had been carved out of an ovaloid rock. It was white, and had no resemblance to any ship. Nothing human.

"ALL SHIP MASTERS, REPORT!" Anissem yelled urgently over the communicator. "ALL AOTW SHIPS, WE HAVE AN UNIDENTIFIED SHIP OF UNKNOWN ORIGIN IN THE SYSTEM! ALL SHIPS STAND BY!"

"Unidentified ship, you have no AOTW clearance to enter the region. State yourself and your intentions." Anissem said, opening a frequency to the ship. He received back a message, spoken in perfect English, by a growling, demonic voice.

"_The Final Journey is an arm crushing down upon your race! We are the dagger in its hand!_"

Suddenly, the ship opened doors, and hundreds of tiny craft began flying to the surface. "They're starting a ground invasion…" Anissem realised. He shouted into the radio. "THEY'RE STARTING A GROUND INVASION! ALL AOTW SHIPS ALERT, WE ARE UNDER ATTACK!"

Anissem opened a private communications link. "Heather, Ares, Ollie, get your squad together. Meet me at Roger dropship A-2. We're going to the surface."

As soon as they flew out, they saw chaos. The ships had engaged each other, with AOTW ships firing powerful explosives but the Nobody ship launching deadly plasma which melted away at the human ship's hulls. All around them, Roger and Nobody dropships were on a race to the surface of the Destiny Islands.

In his ship, Axe just smiled as Subspace opened again, and the _Vessel of Fury_ flew through. It was three times the size of any human ship, and armed to the teeth. Immediately one of the small, insignificant human ships was destroyed. Axe didn't care though, it was the Heavy battleships he was after.

The next hour passed in a blur. Nobodies had been spotted on the ground, the battles had raged on in space with the two Nobody ships dominating, and the AOTW _Rinoa_ was evacuating the civilians. Then, the _Faith In Conversion_ disappeared.

"Sir! Communications are in complete disarray!" A tech man said. Heather listened as Anissem commanded the situation.

"I want a link to the _Hybrid Theory_, and I want it ten seconds ago. And all army-related questions are now to be directed to Lieutenant Heather Frances." Anissem commanded, and Heather looked shocked.

"Me, Sir?" Heather asked disbelievingly, swallowing.

"Yes, Heather. You are now in command of all the Destiny Island's ground operations. If a ship officer tries to override your orders, say you have my override. The only one who can override your orders is me, and I won't do that, because I trust you whole-heartedly." Anissem announced.

"Sir? I have the _Hybrid Theory_." The tech man said, and Anissem turned his helmet radio on. "Good work. I'll contact in the other room." The Admiral said, turning into a room.

The same tech man turned to Heather. "Ma'am, Squad leaders are requesting a rally point."

Heather was blown away at how instantly and spontaneously people needed her decision. Heather turned away from them, and began walking up the stairs, picking up her Combat Rifle on the way.

"Well, Ma'am? They need that rally point. Where should they go?" The tech man asked frantically.

Heather slammed a clip into her rifle. "They should go where the whole human race is going - to war." She said, and walked out. The Marines followed her.

"Lock and load, let's get ready to move!" Heather called out to Marines still in the control room, and they ran up to join her.

-j-

Heather, Cass, Tamara, Louise and Ollie were gearing up with the other marines, strapping metal armour to their limbs and torso. Heather loaded an Attack Rifle, and looked around to see that there were other marines for the battle.

Next to her, Ollie finished gearing up, and turned to the other marines. "So, I hear your CO has a real thing for perfection. What a dick, right?" She joked, and a marine flung around and punched her in the face. Ollie fell back, and the girl cracked her knuckles.

"Don't you DARE insult the commander!" She yelled. "He's saved my life! In space and on the ground back on our homeworld!"

Ollie scowled as Heather and Cass helped her back on her feet. Suddenly the door slid open, and in walked Anissem, trailed by Kevin and Ares. "ADMIRAL ON DECK!" Heather shouted, and everyone snapped a salute.

"At ease. Kevin, Ares, suit yourselves up." He said, and then turned to the marines. "Everyone, the fleet is keeping the _Vessel of Fury_ pinned up in space. But as you know, the _Faith In Conversion_ has mobilized her troops, and our recon forces just went missing. If that Nobody ship manages to break into orbit and join the _Vessel of Fury_, then we've got no hope. So they've sent the _Playing With Fire_ in to deal with it. What we're gonna do is split into five distinct groups and engage the enemy on the ground. If we take the ground, then we can destroy the _Faith In Conversion_ easily. So here are the groups. We've got Afterburn-One, our Forblaze fighter plane and Roger dropship forces, led by Fighter Leader Linella. Then we have Frontline-Two, The backup Marines force. Heather, that one's yours. Hellblaze-Three is Ares' light vehicle and marines group. Theta-Four is Kevin's heavy vehicles group, and Firesweep-Five is the main force of Marines that will be the first to engage the enemy. I'll be taking that one."

Anissem gathered the other four leaders, and all the marines in the hangar together and shouted out. "THERE IS ONLY ONE RULE I EXPECT YOU TO OBEY! EVERY LAST ONE OF YOU IS GOING TO FIGHT, OR I'LL KILL YOU PERSONALLY!"

"OO-RAH!" The whole crowd shouted back.

"Sir?" Heather asked. "You make it sound as if a war is coming. This could all just be a misunderstanding."

Anissem shook his head. "No, Heather. A battle on this scale, thousands dead, is no mere skirmish. This is war with the Nobodies, Heather, and it's kill or be killed. Humanity and the Nobodies have always fought. There's always been mistrust. Now it's war." He cocked his lucky shotgun. "And Hell, it's about time."

-k-

A human jeep, with two people in it, drove over a ledge, jumping onto the ground below. Two others soon followed, both of them bouncing and recovering from the sudden jolt of landing. The wheels of the jeep were gunned to two hundred km's per hour, and tore through the snow of the winter Destiny Islands.

"AOTW _Playing With Fire_, this is Hellfire-Four. We're joining Theta-Two, and are en-route to the suspected site of the recon team's death. Hellfire-Nine out." A female voice said as the three jeeps joined up with Theta-Two, which consisted of five other jeeps and about eight tanks as they rolled on ahead. Five Roger dropships flew overhead. Suddenly, a burst of radio transmission was heard from a Kilometre away - from the missing recon patrol.

"Theta-Five! Hellfire-Four! We're under attack - AUGH!" The male voice screamed as he was shot down by a plasma bolt. "RAGH!" The other yelled as he was hit in the leg, making him drop. The female in the jeep listened intently, an expression of fear on her face, as she listened to the marine grunting as he pulled himself through the snow.

Suddenly, the air around the marine warped, as a Samurai Nobody faded out its invisibility. The Samurai raised its energy blade, and a horrible scream echoed through the radio. "What the hell...?" The girl muttered to herself as the radio shorted out on the other end.

A hand reached down and gripped the human corpse by its neck, the Samurai in ornate silver armour growling at the being before it's eyes. With a grunt, it flung the corpse onto the ground behind it, as five other Samurais left invisibility and began advancing forward. Several Nobody fighter planes rose up and flew forward.

A Roger dropship suddenly split in two and burst into flames as plasma fired from two Nobody planes swooped down and destroyed it. The tanks sprung into action, firing their massive cannons at the incoming fighters as they frantically tried to shoot the fliers out of the air, their lines of fire crisscrossing the air as one of them went down in flames.

A plasma bolt from a flier overturned one of the jeeps, and the girl got out of her jeep to see her companion, her driver, crushed and bloody underneath it. She gripped her rifle and ran forward where several marines had opened fire on the advancing Nobodies. She watched as one of the Samurais went down, two of her Marines dropped dead - one from plasma blasting and another was torn apart by the blade of one of the deadly warriors.

The remainders of the Rogers landed, knowing that they couldn't fight the fliers in the air. One of the tanks exploded as the fliers swooped down, focusing on taking out the human's heavy vehicles one at a time. Suddenly, human fighter planes flew in by the hundreds, quickly purging the Nobody fliers from the sky. On top of a cliff, a couple hundred marines overlooked the carnage ahead

Suddenly, they saw it descend through the clouds - the sleek, deadly Nobody ship which had brought the warriors. Hundreds of Nobody fliers and dropships flew out of the ship, engaging the human fighter planes. Out of the horizon came a wave of white warriors - Dusks. There were also Nobody tanks and transports in the wave, all eager for battle, thirsting for human blood.

"ENGAGE!" Heather screamed from the cliff, and immediately thousands of human planes, vehicles and soldiers ran full pelt at the invaders. The hordes of white fired back burst of blue fire, also charging. Above them, the _Playing With Fire_ rumbled into action, firing at the opposing Nobody ship, and deploying a seemingly endless amount of turrets and missiles, bringing down Nobody dropships left and right. On the ground, Anissem fired his shotgun at any enemy that dared take him lightly. Ares jumped off vehicles and flipped in mid-air to avoid plasma blasts. Angel and Demon kept firing the whole time, many enemies feeling the heat from Ares' weapons.

They could see three AOTW Heavy ships evacuating civilians in the distance, and Heather took it as inspiration. They had to get the civilians evacuated. Suddenly, a cluster of around four dropships fell to ground, a pile of flaming wreckage. Heather saw a group of tanks moving through the Nobody ranks. "OLINDA!" Heather screamed to her comrade, who nodded.

The two began charging in and out of Nobodies, avoiding sword slashes and plasma bolts. Heather and Olinda ran up to two Dusks, who were carrying plasma shields. They both fired three-shot bursts into the Dusks and rolled the plasma shields along the ground, one on either side of a massive Nobody force. Both whipped out their sniper rifles – and fired at the opposite shield – immediately the two bullets crisscrossed, bouncing off the two shields as they rolled, effectively killing every Nobody in the force between the shields.

Meanwhile, Anissem ran up and jumped on a Nobody tank. He shot the two Dusks manning the turrets on either side of the tanks exterior, and ripped the inner hatch open. He pressed the activation on an incendiary grenade and threw it into the cockpit – jumping off just in time to see the tank explode in a burst of napalm. Two Forblaze-class fighters swooped down and fired air-to-ground missiles, destroying the entire front battleline. Human quad-bikes zoomed in and out of explosions, the person on the back of the bike firing his or her rifle into the Nobodies. Suddenly the drivers pressed a button – and the quad bikes spewed out timed explosives. After a few seconds they detonated, levelling several Nobody heavy weapons.

Then a huge lob of blue plasma burst through the air and collided with a GROUP OF Rogers, causing every last one of them to simply disintegrate under the thousand-degree heats. Every human eye turned to the source, and saw a massive plasma artillery cannon. It had a bubble of purple energy surrounding it. Heather knew there was only one gun capable of destroying the shield and then blasting the cannon apart – she just hoped she was wrong.

"HEATHER! WE NEED YOU TO TAKE THIS SHOT!" Shouted Anissem's voice. She looked, and saw a group of Marines setting up a Gauss cannon. Sometimes, she hated it when she was right. She hesitated. "Please, Heather…" Anissem said softly. She saw the desperation in his weary face. It was a plea, a cry for help, to end this battle.

"Go! Heather!"

"Finish it!"

"Knock 'em dead!"

Heather walked up to the Gauss cannon and set up the shot, aiming for the plasma conduits. "Firing… Firing…" She hesitated once more. What if she missed? What if the gun moved and her shot bounced off its armour?

"_No, Heather."_ Her mind told her. "_Put the restaurant behind you. All that matters now is that you take this shot! Destroy the Nobodies! No more delays or hesitations! DO IT!_"

"FIRING!" Heather screamed, and pulled the trigger.

Time seemed to slow down as the magnetic coils fired the white shot, and it sped across the battlefield. Nobodies tried to shoot it out of the air with their weapons, but to no avail. It tore a hole straight through the cannon's energy shield, and impacted into the plasma artillery's energy conduit.

Instantly the whole Nobody force of thousands was engulfed by a huge ball of blue plasma. Dusks and Samurais tried to flee the swirling mass of fire, but were too slow and were swallowed whole by the burning flame. After a few seconds, the fire cooled, leaving the previously snow-capped ground to sand turned to glass by the flame. The whole human military was dumbstruck.

"Alright everyone! Get up here!" Commander Alex's voice rung out over a huge speaker and the _Playing With Fire_ stooped low to the ground, lowering several massive platforms to the ground for the troops and vehicles to evacuate. Immediately the wounded took priority, being flown into the hangars by Roger dropships. As Heather, Ares, Olinda, and all the others boarded the platforms, they looked back.

The huge Nobody ship, _Vessel of Fury_, was being bombarded by human ships, only it was fighting back, one on four. The AOTW _Rinoa_ was flying away, escaping with all the civilians. Then, the _Fury_ fired a huge, pulsating beam of red plasma at the surface of the world. Instantly the ground shook, and explosions racked the surface of the Destiny Islands – the sea boiled, and the world cracked in two, but then more plasma beams hit the planet – tearing it to oblivion. It was like looking upon hell, burning and rumbling, a firestorm of electric-blue plasma, intense flame, and stones. Heather then looked at the _Faith In Conversion_ as the platforms finished rising into the ship.

Heather, Ares, and Olinda immediately began going up to the bridge. Anissem left for a Roger to take him to his _Hybrid Theory_, but Kevin stopped him. "Sir! My family – they're not on the civilian registers! We have to go back!"

Anissem stopped. He sighed, a deep, weary sigh, and turned a sad gaze to Kevin. "I'm sorry, Son… But if they're in that inferno down there, they're gone." Anissem then turned and walked into the Roger, head lowered, not saying anything through sadness.

Heather, Ares, and Olinda had only just walked into the bridge when they heard the navigations officer. "Sir! Hostile is moving! It looks like the plasma explosion short-circuited the shielding unit, it's vulnerable!" He said, as the_ Faith In Conversion_ span around, and began flying away. Commander Alex contacted Anissem.

"Sir! The _Faith_'s shields are down! This is our chance, I'm ready for an assault run!" She said.

"Negative, Commander." Anissem growled, explosions shaking the background behind him. "You're not going against that thing on your own, you'll die like lambs to the slaughter. I'll vector the _Minutes To Midnight_ and _Collision Course_ for an interception as soon as they clear the atmosphere."

Suddenly, a huge circle of white appeared at the Nobody ship's head. Alex's eyes widened in fear.

"Ma'am! A subspace rift just appeared at the target's head! It's going to make a jump from within the atmosphere!" A tech man yelled, watching the white circle slowly engulf the Nobody ship.

"Sir, there's no time! If it jumps in the atmosphere, it'll destroy what's left of this world and all the surrounding things!" Alex cried urgently.

"Permission to enagage granted! Green light, go go go!"

"PUNCH IT! Let's give 'em all we've got!" Alex said, pumping her fist into the air as the _Playing With Fire_ boosted away, shaking what was left of the ground below.

"Main target: Primary subspace engines!" Another tech man said, operating the weapons.

"FIRE!" Alex yelled, and the _Playing With Fire_ fired its main burst cannon. The huge, white line of incredible power, formulated by the electrical force of incredible magnets, sped through the acrid air, and hit home. The Nobody ship spiralled off course and out of the circle of light as its subspace engine glowed orange, and exploded, sending a course through the Nobody ship.

-m-

"Sir, our shielding unit has been completely destroyed!" A Dusk complained. "And their cannon has downed our subspace engine!"

Axe growled in protest, leaning on his sword. He had wounded his leg in the battle below, leaving him with a nasty limp. "Return to orbit, and regroup with the _Vessel of Fury_!" He roared. "We shall not lose this, the first battle of our war!"

"This battle is lost!" Shouted a Samurai. Axe turned to see his own brother, Vice, stomping toward him. "If we retreat now, then we can take back with us valuable information! Their weapon technology, battle strategies, everything! If we stand and fight with the _Fury_ we shall surely be annihilated!" Vice roared.

"Did you just question my decision?" Axe growled threateningly.

"I think I speak for all of us when I question your decision!" Vice roared back, bravely.

"Listen! Retreat is no option! We need to get back up and combine our strength with that of the _Vessel of Fury_!" Axe called. "We must stand and fight!"

"If we stand and fight, we will die for naught. We need to retreat, whilst we give them the impression that our ships are invincible!" Vice roared. "Your decision is based off the old, foolish way of the Nobody!"

"HOW DARE YOU! Search your loyalties!" Axe yelled.

"You **dare** to call me disloyal?"

"I have never called you loyal. You are naught but obedient, my brother."

"Look around you! You expect others to be obedient to you, but rather all you're doing is sending them to their doom!" Vice said, gesturing his hand at all the Samurais around. "If you ask me, brother, it's time for a shift in power."

Vice walked back a few metres. "The challenge is issued. You have laid a duel for my title. That being, the leader and undisputed commander of the Samurais."

Vice bowed. "I know the rules. I cannot back out. I wager my life."

Axe hefted Caineghis. "And I wager my sword Caineghis, the crown jewel of the Samurais. He who wields it is the ruler."

"Of course, the defending ruler need not put his life on the line. But after I win… You'll be my servant." Vice mocked, bowing with a superior smirk.

"I would rather die than be enlisted as a heretic's servant! I wager my life also!" Axe roared, pulling his weight off Caineghis so he could wield it properly.

Axe removed his Harbinger armour, save for the helmet. He donned a set of Samurai Captain armour, and readied Caineghis. Vice launched himself at Axe, quickly clashing his own blade with that of his brother's. Vice was quickly on the offensive, dealing Axe heavy blow after lunge. Then, Axe ducked a slash and slammed Caineghis' blunt side into Vice's legs, causing the younger to collapse onto the ground.

Axe raised his plasma sword above his head and time seemed to slow down as he enveloped the blade in red, angry plasma, and brought it down upon his brother. Vice looked to see the blade coming, and leapt from his hind legs - Caineghis struck the ground, the plasma cleaving through the floor of the ship, shaking the whole bridge and causing the computers and lights to flicker off for a brief second. Axe stood there, panting, and drew his blade from the metre-deep scar in the floor it had created.

Then, a foot connected with extraordinary force into Axe's face, sending the Harbinger smashing into a computer terminal. Electricity crackled around the Samurai as he slowly rose up, leaning onto the terminal's wreckage for support - Vice stepped toward him, Caineghis in both hands.

"You see, brother? Your resolve, your undying faith in the Nobodies' old ways… It makes you weak!" Vice roared.

"Your heresy and lust for power make you weaker!" Axe yelled, quickly whipping his hand to Vice's hip and drawing Vice's own katana – he swung it up, aiming to cleave Vice's face in half, but instead, a small flap of flesh hit the floor. Axe looked up, to see part of Vice's jaw missing. The bone was exposed, and it was bleeding heavily. Vice snarled in pain but quickly regained, pulling up Caineghis with one hand, readying it. Axe parried a blow from Caineghis, before taking advantage of the lighter sword to deal a quick flurry of blows at Vice. Vice then enveloped the sword in plasma once more, and threw it at his brother. Axe threw the katana. The swords flew at other, both thrown equally perfect by the swordmasters that were their owners.

Caineghis impacted with the katana and melted it threw, sending some parts of the blade smashing all around the bridge. Caineghis spun towards Axe, who held out his hands, and stopped the blade between them. However, the blunt side hit in stomach, flinging him back several metres out the bridge door and into a hangar.

The hangar's huge circular floor hole (which they used to drop troops close to the ground) was wide open, the gaping 10 Kilometre drop stretching out below them. Vice immediately tackled his brother, both of them wrestling for a grip on Caineghis. Suddenly Vice leapt a hand forward and tore the Harbinger's helmet off Axe's head.

"I BELIEVE THIS BELONGS TO THE ORGANIZATION!" He roared above the scream of the winds, throwing the helmet behind him. Vice then slammed his own, helmeted head into Axe's making the Harbinger cry out in pain. Vice kicked his brother and got up, Caineghis in hand. Vice bent low to the ground a picked up a thin pipe. "TAKE THE WEAPON YOU DESERVE!" He shouted, tossing the object at the Harbinger, who caught it.

Vice then charged at his brother, slicing the pipe in half easily and sending Axe flying back just as the ship tilted upwards, beginning Axe tumbling towards the central hole. Axe scrambled and groped at anything he could to stop his descent, but then felt his body flung over the edge, were it not for one clawed hand grabbing onto the edge for dear life. He tried to get his second hand back onto edge, but then he saw the quick flash of his former blade – and then the pain. Axe screamed a scream that curdled the blood as his hand dropped to the ship's floor, blood pouring from the wound. Axe withdrew his stumped arm to his chest, not caring that the blood flowed freely across his skin and borrowed armour. He heard his brother's heavy footsteps approaching slowly.

"Re… Reconstruction…" The Harbinger croaked, his throat parched.

"Escape and Return. Rebuilding and reforming." Vice replied, encasing Caineghis in plasma.

"I… I'm glad that if I taught you one thing, it was this age." Axe rasped.

"Axe, are you deaf to the cries of joy the whole Nobody force is screaming? This age is over. Gone are the days of empty promises and hopeful dreams. Now is time to act. Now is the time of salvation." Vice said, raising Caineghis above his head.

"I will join the transcendence with all the others." Axe said, closing his eyes.

"NO! YOU SHALL BE LEFT BEHIND!" Vice roared, slicing the blade right into Axe's head. There was a final, long, loud roar of pain, and then silence as the corpse flew through the hole.

For what seemed like ages, Vice stood there. The large central hole closed, and Vice turned to his Samurais. "Our new leader. Our allegiances are forever with you." They all said in unison.

Vice nodded. "Call in all the Dusks. I have an announcement to make." Vice commanded. "We're leaving ship, I want all of you and the Dusks to get the dropships and subspace out of here. If there's anyone not afraid of death though… Join me."

-n-

"Docking completed. _Hybrid Theory_ to _Playing With Fire_." Waikana announced, and Ares, Heather and Kevin stepped onto the bridge of _Hybrid Theory_. The view was incredible, however sad. The swirling blaze of rocks, plasma and flame that used to the Destiny Islands. A short way off it, however, was a miniature sun of purple flames, complete with orbiting debris – the remains of the _Vessel of Fury_.

"Well people, this is it. It looks like it's over. The _Vessel of Fury_ is destroyed. The Destiny Islands, also… But we managed to save the civilians. The AOTW _Rinoa_ is holding the civilians – including the Keybearers Sora, Sola, Riku, Kairi, Roxas, and Namine." Anissem informed them. "The AOTW Reanimation is holding the wounded, acting as a medical ship. And just a few minutes ago, many dropships left the _Faith In Conversion_ and flew into Subspace. However…"

Waikana continued. "I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but the _Faith In Conversion_ is still active. Engines flaring, systems in overdrive. It's going to self-destruct at it's rate of expenditure."

"That's where you three come in." Anissem grumbled. "The damn Nobodies sealed all of their exits, and the only entry spot is big enough for three people. Couple with that the fact that several Nobody fighter planes are still fighting in space outside… And we've only got one shot."

"Sir, I'm in, Sir!" Heather said immediately. Anissem nodded.

"…I'm in. I'm gonna get revenge for my family." Kevin growled, hair hiding his eyes.

"I'm in too, but to get through fighter planes to a very small target?" Ares questioned. "I hope you have a crazy pilot to make such a run."

"Right here." Xolas said, walking in. Everyone smiled.

"Well, here we go!" Anissem shouted. "Go and get ready!" The three ran towards the armoury, but Anissem stopped Heather.

"You've proven yourself to be exceptional, Heather." Anissem told her. "How about I make you a Sergeant-Major?"

Heather was shocked. "Sir… Thank you for this offer, but I must decline."

Anissem winked. "No problem. You're a Commander then! I'll order a ship constructed for you." He walked over to a computer. "Tell me Heather, what did you love most about the Destiny Islands?"

Heather was dumbstruck. Did Anissem usually hand out ships like candy? "Erm… I guess it was the skies. How they always roll flawlessly over everything else. The land, the ocean…"

"AOTW _Skies Of The Land And Ocean_." Anissem said, and turned back to Heather. "Well, Commander? Get ready! You've got a battle to win!"

-p-

Xolas flew the Roger through space, manoeuvring to avoid large debris pieces, whilst ignoring human fighters engaged in combat with Nobody ones. She approached the small entry point, and used the Roger's chain gun to blow open the hatch. "Sorry guys, but it's too hot around here for this baby. I can't get back here to pick you up." She said, as the three jumped into the ship, pressurising the room as it filled with air.

"How are supposed to get back?" Ares yelled.

"There's a Nobody dropship in the engineering room. Rather convenient, because engineering is where you'll need go to deactivate the ship's systems. From there, the Heavy battleships can safely destroy the ship." Waikana said.

"Well people, good luck. We're all counting on you." Anissem said as the three descended into the ship.

Blue lights flickered on and off. Huge corridors, dimly lit, dominated the way to engineering. Heather and Ares found themselves shooting the half-dead bodies of Dusks, as Kevin ran around in a blind rage, shooting every Nobody that emerged with his sniper rifle. Heather and Ares would worry about him, if only they could keep up with him.

Then, they reached engineering. "Stand back!" Ares said as she tapped the Nobody controls, following her mother's instructions on what buttons to press. Heather looked around the huge room, and saw a shadow zoom past. Kevin saw it too; he raised his sniper, engaging the night vision.

"Done!" Ares said as the ship stopped rumbling. "Engines off, systems off. Crisis averted."

Suddenly a Samurai Nobody flew out at them, wielding an enormous sword engulfed in plasma. Heather swore and fired her attack rifle, the bullets failing to penetrate the armour of the creature. Even the shot from Kevin's sniper bounced off, as Vice just kept smashing on toward his target. Ares fired valiantly, but the Samurai knocked her down.

Kevin reached into his back pocket, and pulled out the weapon he had forged himself: a gauntlet, with blade protruding from the base of each knuckle. He slipped it on, and ran toward the Samurai. "HEY ASSHOLE! I SAVED SOMETHING FOR YA!" He shouted, and stabbed the claws into Vice's chest, piercing right through the Samurai's armour. The Samurai coughed and doubled over, before pulling the claws out of his chest and kicking Kevin in the stomach.

Vice clutched himself, the blooding running down his torso. He quickly flung himself around and slammed the button to turn the ship systems back on. "NO!" Ares screamed as the engines started again, and all the systems flooded back to life. Vice smirked and stabbed Caineghis through the controls, rendering them useless. He then turned and ran into the Nobody dropship, coughing and spluttering, leaving a trail of blood behind. The Samurai Leader flew the dropship away and into space through the atmospheric shield covering the ship.

"Ares, Heather, Kevin, report. What's going on in there?" Anissem asked over the radio.

"There was an unexpected enemy guarding the controls. We got 'em down, but then he turned them back on and smashed the controls!" Heather replied.

"We're all okay, but we need to get out of here, and stop this thing!" Kevin yelled over the radio.

"It looks hopeless though." Ares sighed. "No controls, no way out… Only a genius could-"

"Everyone!" Waikana yelled out over the radio. "I have it! If I open the Radiance's central hatch and literally fly into the _Faith In Conversion_, then you guys could jump from the point you came in to a hangar bay in the Radiance, and you'd get out!"

"But the explosion of the _Faith In Conversion_ will cause the Radiance to explode!" Leon argued.

"Admiral, I'm well aware of the dangers here." Waikana said. "The Radiance will contain the explosion and cause no damage to the other ships! After all, the medical and civilian ships haven't charged their subspace engines! That Nobody ship could explode any second, and it would mean all the civilians dead! Sir, we're talking about a difference of millions!"

There was a long silence, which was broken by Anissem. "Hell, I'm in." The other Admirals also voiced their agreement, and then Leon contacted.

"Very well. You have my permission. Do it, Waikana." He said.

"Right! Full speed ahead!" She yelled, as she fired the Radiance's huge thrusters – moving billions of tonnes of metal through space, speeding toward the _Faith In Conversion_. "You guys have to get back to the point where Xolas dropped you off!"

"NO!" Ares screamed. "MUM! YOU'RE CONNECTED TO THE RADIANCE! YOU'LL DIE!"

"Ares, sweetie… This is for the greater good." Waikana replied softly.

"I WON'T LOSE YOU AGAIN!" Ares sobbed pounding her fist on the ground, tears flowing freely.

"At least this time you can say goodbye." Waikana said, and Ares looked up, having stopped crying. "Goodbye, my dear, beautiful daughter, Ares. I want you to find love, and you must stand and fight for what you believe in… Even if you stand alone."

Ares sniffed. "Farewell, my mother Waikana… To whom I owe my life. I'll – I'll never forget you!" She said. "I'll do this! I'll fight!"

"Atta girl." Waikana said. "I love you."

Ares nodded. "And I you."

Then, the ship trembled. "The _Faith In Conversion_ just made contact with the Radiance! Go! Get to the point where you where dropped off, you can jump to a hangar outside!" Anissem yelled. The group ran to where Xolas had dropped them off. They were in zero gravity - outside they could see the entrance to the hangar and, inside, a Roger dropship.

Standing between them and the craft though, was seven metres of empty space. Seven metres was a long jump in zero gravity. "Thirty seconds until the ship explodes!" Waikana exclaimed. "Jump!"

Without hesitation, all three of them jumped. For what seemed like an age, they floated through the air, the explosions around them eerily making no sound as they flew through empty space. Heather and Ares drifted into the hangar – Kevin was swept to the side, and gripped on for dear life. "HEATHER! HELP!" He screamed.

Heather looked at Ares, who was gesturing for her to run and get into the dropship with her. Instead, Heather ran to Kevin and pulled him into the hangar. They pushed off the wall, flying toward the Roger dropship, and flew in. Ares punched the accelerator, sending the dropship bursting through the Radiance's hangar doors as it exploded behind them.

"Goodbye, Ares…"

Ares heard it, sniffed back tears, and smiled a sad smile. "Anybody up for a look?" Kevin asked, gesturing them over to the viewscreen. Both girls looked at it.

A blue, oval-shaped burst of blue flame lit up the Radiance like a silhouette, and then, orange explosions blossomed like flowers along it, eventually covering the whole 10 Kilometres of length. And then, like a wilting flower, the flames died down, leaving naught but a depressing lot of smoking junk in space.

As the _Hybrid Theory_ swooped down and rescued the dropship, depression hit Ares. She burst into uncontrollable tears. Kevin was angry. Seeing Ares lose her mother reminded him of own pain. And realization hit Heather. It hit as the medical people whisked the three to the bridge and sat them down.

"All Subspace engines charged… Let's go home, wherever home is now." Anissem said, as all the remaining AOTW ships flew into the rolling white portals created by their Subspace engines.

As Heather sat back on the seat in the bridge of the AOTW _Hybrid Theory_, she looked around – the depressed face of Ares, the enraged one of Kevin, the weary one of Anissem – and saw it immediately. These were the faces of war. The long-predicted Human-Nobody War had arrived.

The Glorious Advance of the Nobodies had begun.


	2. The Battle of Port Royal

Oh my God! Sorry it's been so long since my last update, everyone! So, I've made it up to you with a super-long chapter! Just look at that wordcount! IT'S ALMOST NINE THOOOUUUUSAAAAND! XD Well, anyway, enjoy is all I can say!

The Human-Nobody War

Chapter 2 – The Battle of Port Royal

The waters of Port Royal split and simmered as a flock of Roger dropships flew overhead. Below, Royal Navy ships still sailed in the harbour, with its bewildered crew staring at the spectacle overhead. The Royal Navy had urged all citizens not to panic as the AOTW had practically taken over the Port in this new period of war.

Truth be told, Sola was terrified. She'd been in some tough battles, for sure, but she'd never been in a full-scale war. _'Still,'_ she told herself, _'These are the same Nobodies I've been fighting all along, only en masse.'_ The straps which held her shotgun sheath to her back felt uncomfortable; her skin crawled at the humidity of the Caribbean air.

Around her, the marines were pumped. They gripped their rifles eagerly, awaiting the kills that the Nobodies brought with them. Sola turned her gaze from them, inwardly scowling at their anticipation… She'd been in a Nobody attack herself, and she knew the heat, the fire, the pain… It made her skin sweat cold and bile rise in her stomach just thinking about her mother. She turned back to the open back of the dropship and crouched down, facing the water should she vomit. Once she was confident her nausea had settled, she looked back up - and saw the stone towns, its people mingling like so many insects in a thriving colony; the blistering midday sun as it reflected brilliantly off the endless leagues of water leading out to the wide, open ocean, and the horizon beyond. _'Well, at least the view is incredible.'_ Sola thought, smiling, to herself.

Woken from her reverie by the crackle of the Roger's radio system along with the Roger's perpetually screaming engines, Sola sickeningly realized how uncomfortable she was, and quickly crouched down to the ocean to vomit. Sure enough, her stomach seemed to flip right over as she threw up into the bay. Wiping her mouth and leaning on the Roger's wall, the other marines stared quizzically at her, and she tried to hide her embarrassment by just not facing them. These were trained soldiers, and she was just a girl. Sola sniffed back tears as she realized that this one incident would cost her the proper respect of the troops. To them, she wasn't tough enough. To them, she would do nothing to help win this war.

Her fears were only compounded by the fact that battles had broken out across all the known worlds, and thus the Keybearers were stretched thin across the galaxy. Last she heard, Riku was en route to Atlantica, Sora fending the Nobodies off on the Olympus Coliseum, Kairi's troops fighting a desperate battle in the Deep Jungle, Roxas leading his soldiers to victory on Agrabah, and her own Nobody, Xolas, had left not one hour ago in response to an attack on The Pride Lands. In addition, battles had begun in The Land Of Dragons, and a Nobody force was amassing in the Beast's Castle. Only two weeks since the Destiny Islands, and humanity's first full-scale war since the separation of the worlds had well and truly begun.

Suddenly, the serene and beautiful view she had been looking at only moments before was cut off by the incredibly large, grey surface of an AOTW battleship. They passed over it, and into a flurry of lasers, plasma and gunfire. AOTW 'Forblaze' fighter planes and Rogers swerved into Nobody fighters and vice versa - by the hundreds. The two sides were engaged in an all-out dogfight, shooting and dodging fire until all of one side were obliterated. All were maneuvering to try and get on the tail of the opposing aircraft, and have the easiest shot at their foes. The air was thick with heat, and small explosions could be seen everywhere – both the blue of Nobody fighters and the orange of AOTW fighters.

"Incoming!" The pilot of Sola's dropship shouted, as three Nobody fighters came up on their starboard tail. But, as fast as they had come up, they went up in blue flames and debris, as a squadron of fresh Forblaze fighters streaked past them. One fighter, emblazoned with red stripes – a Squadron Leader – slowed down beside them on their left. As popular with pilots, a stencil of how many kills that pilot had scored was below the cockpit, only the Squadron Leader had too many to count. Also, above the wing was the name that the pilot had given the plane – 'Weighted Companion'.

"Nicola Aalie, Admiral of the AOTW warship _Saviour_." The pilot said from within. A proud girl with bubblegum-pink hair, Nicola Aalie wore the traditional uniform emblazoned with the Admiral's insignia. Sola remembered seeing the _Saviour_ from their dropship a few minutes ago – it was a ship designed mainly for equipment and personnel carrying, but it was a formidable ship nonetheless. "I'm currently rearranging all Squadron activity into a coordinated attack on the Nobody forces, but I need you guys to take out a strategic position among the Nobody line of attack. Once all the preparations are done for victory up here, I will join you."

"Roger that, Nicola." The Co-Pilot said. She turned to the marines, slipped her helmet off her head, revealing a head of long brown hair tied in a bun. "I don't like my hair in a bun. Vanity may be the most evil sin, but I'm sorry – If God didn't want me to be happy with my hair, why did He make it so damn pretty?" The group was surprised to see none other than Commander Heather Frances. She did a sly, two-finger salute at Sola – several other marines thought it was directed towards them and blushed. "Lady and Gentlemen, our mission is to take out a Nobody ground position set up in a circle in the Northernmost part of the town – facing the harbour. Basically, our Town-Defence forces have been trying to break through the circle of defence for about three hours now, but the perimeter is guarded by heavy armour, tanks, and worst of all…" She paused for a moment. "…Samurai Trueblades."

Samurai Trueblades were formidable foes, even for Keybearers. They were the most skilled of Samurais, the Nobody equivalent to a human drop trooper or a Heartless Neoshadow. Trueblades were only found in the company of the leader… Which, everyone knew, meant that the fearsome warrior they had fought on the _Faith In Transcendence_ was somewhere in the battle.

"What about our forces on the Rampart?" Asked a Marine.

"For a while, our snipers on the Rampart were dealing quite heavy blows to their ring of defence. Then the Nobodies grew wise to our act, and now there's been a battle for control of the Rampart for the last hour." Heather replied. "We've tried all manner of special forces to get in, from Heavy Demolition Teams to Firesweeper Cleanup Teams, but nothing's worked. It's as if… They know what we we're sending after them."

"You're suggesting an information leak, Ma'am?" Sola asked, taking in what she meant.

"You bet your life I am. Not only has this ring of infantry with a couple of tanks repelled our elite forces, but our warships have also been hit by a trap. Our plan was to use Drop-Capable Ordinance Units to go into the harbour, and have a spray of ballistic missiles take the Nobodies by surprise from underwater. But Plasma mines had been planted in the harbour when we dropped them! We lost three quarters of them, and their damned Dropships spared no time and expense in going in and obliterating the last ones! Those plans were only known to the ship Admirals, Captains and Commanders on the ships, as well as the units in Dropship Group A and Forblaze Group H. Considering they've all stayed on the public radio channels, none of them could have submitted any information to Nobody forces!"

The group stayed silent for a moment, trying to consider the possibility of a traitor. They were suddenly interrupted by the pilot. "ETA is 5 minutes."

Sola spoke up. "I know one person who can solve this mystery. Last I heard, she got promoted to Intelligence Officer in the Force Communications Division, as well as being the Head of the Artificial Intelligence Division."

"Christ," Heather whistled in amazement. "She must have quite a brain."

"You bet your life." Sola replied, and dialled a number on her wrist data reader.

-a-

Hollow Bastion, 1315 Local Time (One hour ahead of Port Royal Local Time)

One of the communiqués in the Force Communications Division beeped, the flashing blue light indicating a private call. A tech man, clad in a depressing grey and blue plain uniform, answered it, before turning to the chair next to him. "Intelligence Officer, it's for you. She says her name is Sola Katamori."

The bored girl in said chair stopping spinning, her face taking a bit of interest, and took the communiqué from the tech man with a "Thank You."

"Sola! How've you been? Last I heard, you were transported to Port Royal. Shouldn't you be helping with the situation in the Rampart right now?" She asked, as she smoothed out the creases on her white and blue uniform.

"I'm en route to that circle of Nobodies making trouble in the town right now, it turns out." Sola replied. "But we do have one problem that guns can't fix. Internal problems. Intelligence control problems." Sola paused. "Problems with High Treason."

Namine stiffened, looking sombre. "I see."

"The Admiral, Captains and Commanders of all the ships currently within the vicinity of Port Royal cooked up a good plan. They needed to let those in Dropship Group A and Forblaze Group H know, so they told them. All involved have been on the public radio channels, so there's been no chance for any of them to inform the Nobodies. And of course, Communications Officers on board the ships have been monitoring all text-only transmissions." As Sola explained all this, Naminé was rapidly typing on the console in front of her, cross-referencing thousands of names and hundreds of military divisions. "But somehow, the Nobodies found out and blew our plan to smithereens. Not only that, but the ring of Nobodies we're after has been informed of every group sent to attack them. They've been prepared for, and thus obliterated, every single one."

"Alright then." Namine said, finishing typing up an exact transcript of what Sola had said, whilst still cross-referencing and typing. "I'm afraid we'll need to let this wait a bit. Of the specifications you've listed, there are 639 possible suspects."

On the other end of the line, Sola laughed. "Alright then. We'll clear up, and try to gather all the intel we can. We'll ask Admirals to list the levels of their communications restrictions, and finally – we'll spread the word. This will let the traitor know we're onto him."

"Good." Namine replied curtly. "Under the circumstances, I believe we can cross out the possibility that this is all just good preparation and luck on the Nobodies' part. All the tactics they've used in this war so far is just attack and fire, so I can't understand a change this dramatic. No, there is definitely a traitor in our midst." She paused, observing the names on her screen carefully. "But rest assured, we will find this leak and bring him to justice. It is our creed as soldiers of the AOTW."

"Of course. Good to hear your voice, Naminé."

"And you, Sola. Good hunting!"

"Thanks." Sola cut the connection.

Namine placed the communiqué back in its place, and gazed out to Hollow Bastion in the enormous view port in front of her. "This complicates things…" She said to herself.

-b-

"So that was Intelligence Officer Namine. I've heard all sorts of amazing things about her, especially in recent times." Heather said, considering the situation. "You're right, of course. If anyone can solve this mess, it'll be her." Suddenly, the dropship hit ground, and Marines ducked as plasma fire filled the troop bay. Heather slammed a helmet on her head, doing nothing to restrain her hair. "But when it comes to this type of problem solving, the AOTW will have to make do with us!" She grinned, pulling out an Attack Rifle and leaping out of the Roger, a Dusk falling with every squeeze of her gun's trigger.

Around her, the Marines appeared to be grabbing some sort of olive-coloured devices from a small rack. They all filed out of the dropship, each one providing covering fire for the next one to emerge. Three of them moved out in formation, pressing a few buttons on the devices and throwing them in front of the others. Sola was last out, forgetting her nausea and letting her combat instincts kick in. Everything became second nature – Nobodies reviled at the sight of her Keyblade, and she wielded it like a regal sceptre carving through waves of weak infantrymen. Of course, it was only a matter of time before one of the honourable Trueblades confronted her. The Trueblade bowed, recognising one of the Key-wielding humans as a formidable foe. Sola, surprised but flattered at the Nobody's courtesy, bowed back, before readying her Keyblade.

A glint of silver and the Trueblade was upon her, both of its thin katanas drawn, and shimmering crimson in the radiant daylight. They whipped back and forth across her vision, almost hypnotising her. Sola quickly went on the offensive, trying to offset her opponent's graceful, almost dance-like fighting style with a type of makeshift fencing.

Then, Sola dug her Keyblade into the ground and lifted herself off it at her opponent. The Trueblade was taken off guard by this bizarre move, and that gave Sola time to wrap her slender legs around the Trueblade's shoulder joint, and twisted. The Samurai roared in pain but it had a strong joint, and refused to yield. Finally, Sola summoned her Keyblade and gnashed the teeth of its edge into the Trueblade's shoulder. The Nobody howled, flinging Sola free of its now broken shoulder.

Pain rippled through its body, and in its spasms it threw its own crimson glass katana. Sola landed gracefully as the blood-red blade dug into the soil in front of her – she gripped its hilt and dashed up, admiring the Samurai's resilience and courage as it blocked her Keyblade with its last blade. She swung the sword she'd taken – and was stopped in shock as the Trueblade used its own arm as scapegoat, letting it be chopped off to protect its torso!

"You fight well, human!" The Trueblade growled. "But this will be the final strike."

"_Indeed it will."_ Sola thought, as she felt the lump of metal underneath her cape. The Samurai Trueblade lowered its head, streamlining its body, and dashed at Sola. Sola threw caution to the wind and ran straight at her attacker, who swung its red sword

right at the Jugular Vein in Sola's neck. Sola smirked – just as planned. She rose her Keyblade so that the enemy sword collided with the **tip** of the legendary weapon.

"Fire." Sola said, and a burst of flame flew from the Keyblade's tip and travelled straight down the Nobody's blade, heating the glass to a critical temperature. The glass blade shattered, sending minute, blazing shards of hot liquid glass in every direction behind the Samurai. The Trueblade was stunned, and Sola swiped down on its good arm with her stolen sword – slicing it clean off.

Faster than the eye could blink, Sola recovered, reared both her blades, and impaled her foe twice in the stomach. Its face contorted in shock, and Sola flung her cape up, revealing her last weapon – an eight-kilogram, one metre long, olive-drab and silver shotgun which fired five-centimetre slug rounds comprised of mercury-dipped shredder bullets guaranteed to kill.

All hot from the factory, and she fired it straight into the Trueblade's face. Its head didn't even explode. Everything above the beast's chest had simply been vaporised from point-blank range, by one of the deadliest anti-Nobody weapons known to man. What little was left of the Trueblade's body simply dissolved before it even hit the ground.

Around her, Marines jumped up and cheered. "So much for the invincible Trueblades!" One shouted.

"Incoming!" Heather shouted, as a force of Dusks tried to charge the Marines. The Marines ducked behind the devices they'd thrown on the floor, firing to kill the Dusks before they could get close enough to lunge or prepare a plasma weapon. A second wave arrived, all of them charging a plasma weapon. "Are we mixed?" Heather shouted to one of her marines. A marine holding a small counter peeked at it, and threw Heather a thumbs up. "Release on my mark!" She barked.

"3!"

Several marines' rifles clicked, spent shells littering the ground behind them. A few of them swore, and began to dig through her belts for another magazine. One of them was setting up a large turret on a stand that Sola saw to be a 50 calibre.

"2!"

The plasma weapons the Dusks were carrying glowed bright orange, their chargers up to 95 percent. Each of them was almost ready to fire.

"1!"

Sola looked with dread as she saw a line of Trueblades behind the Dusks, waiting to move in and destroy the humans at close range.

"FIRE!" A Trueblade roared.

"MARK!" Heather shouted.

Sola heard two sounds at once. The first was a hissing sizzle as several globular blots of orange plasma were released from their holdings and flew at the AOTW Marines. The second was a splat, a the devices thrown on the ground jerked violently and spat out some sort of semi-solid liquid. About two metres into the air it stopped, and suddenly solidified. The plasma bolts smashed into them, making loud cracking and popping noises and they ate away ate the first layer of the substance -which had apparently solidified into something as hard as rock.

Many of the Dusks didn't even get a chance to reload – Marines, having completed their reloading, stuck their rifles out between the solid walls and fired, knocking down one Dusk after another like cans on a range. The Trueblades charged, but two marines hefted the 50 calibre out into the open, placed it on the ground and fed ammo into it as the one operating opened fire – tearing holes in the Trueblades before they got within five metres. Heather found two Marines and gestured upwards to them. Both nodded, and they ran behind the protection of the 50 calibre, which covered them as they began to climb the wall of a stone house.

Sola dashed over to Heather, and shouted over the noise of the enormous turret. "What is this stuff?!"

Heather grinned, and banged her fist against it twice. "Like it? R&D finally did something smart! They combined AB Foam, which normally takes about 30 seconds to expand and solidify, with a stimulant to make it mix, expand and solidify in mere seconds! Not only that, but they added a reactant to give it an explosive lift! They're literally makeshift stone walls in the palm of your hand!"

As she said that, a fist smashed through the AB Foam wall, right above Heather's hand and centimetres from her face. Both girls snapped their heads upwards, only to come face to face with a Trueblade. Its cocky snarl quickly turned to a grimace, though, as the chemicals inside the wall seized their opportunity to react and solidified **around** the Samurai's arm. It snarled and tried to wrench its arm free of the wall, but to no avail.

Heather was quick, and leapt up to face her foe. One of the Trueblade's swords sang as it was pulled from its sheath, but the crimson wave of steel missed Heather altogether. Heather drew her Submachine Gun, and slammed the butt of the weapon into the Trueblade's arm, caving in its elbow. Heather followed up by forcing her Attack Rifle into its neck and firing three times, black blood spurting out with each shot. She swung around, twisting her arm around the Samurai's neck and pulling its limp body in front of her.

Three bolts of orange plasma flew toward Heather, and she lifted the Trueblade's body to defend her. The three shots burned into its skin, exposing the Nobody's vital organs and bones as the flames carved grotesque wounds into the body. Heather raised her SMG and fired three short, controlled bursts. The three Dusks who had fired, who happened also to be the last three Nobodies in sight, clutched where the bullets tore through their skin. Heather calmed, lowered her gun, and look at the body she was still holding close. "Eurgh…" Heather groaned as she pushed the mutilated corpse reeking of burned flesh aside, its body hanging limply off the arm still sealed in the wall of AB Foam.

No-one saw it coming. A large beam of purple plasma rocketed through the air, singeing the very oxygen within a few metres of it. None of the marines had any time to react, much less the two marines operating the 50 calibre at which the tank had aimed. The two humans disappeared in a dome of raging fire. The explosion swelled for a moment, engulfing the ground, and then calmed – revealing nothing but a three metre wide smoking crater in the ground where previously two men had stood.

Heather lifted her cherished Celtic cross necklace up to her lips and kissed it, praising the brave men's sacrifice. Her sorrowful face quickly changed to anger. Purple lines of light gathered along the lateral lines of appeared to be a large Railgun, with plasma energy growing at the tip. The Marines, including Heather and Sola, dove as the tank fired again – luckily, no-one was hurt, but three of their five walls of AB Foam were obliterated by the unforgiving flame.

"Olinda! Wiczensky! Go!" Heather shouted to a house, as the two marines on top of it sprang into action. Olinda stepped up to the roof's edge, and took aim. Four shots of her Sniper Rifle, and the four Berserker Nobodies surrounding the tank dropped, beginning to dissipate. Wiczensky, on the other hand, did a running jump off the roof and right onto the exterior of the tank. He slammed a small lump of C-4 plastic explosive onto the code-activated entry, stuck in a detonator and climbed away for a moment as the C-4 detonated. He climbed back up, tore the entrance off the tank and vaulted himself in. The tank stopped, and automatic gunfire was heard, followed by the resonating noise of a grenade being dropped to the floor…

Wiczensky leapt from the exit he'd created as the tank exploded behind him in an inferno of indigo flames. The engines exploded too, resulting in the complete destruction of the Railgun and the treads. In just seconds, it was naught but a smouldering violet wreck.

The Marines regrouped, checking ammo and wounded. One man had been shot in the leg by a Dusk, and another had been forced to fight a Dusk hand-to-hand after a Trueblade had thrown his sword – by some miracle slicing the Marine's combat rifle clean in half. "Heather looked, around, not seeing a single Nobody around. "Area clear!" She shouted to her Marines.

A whoosh, followed by a fierce battle cry, rang out across the clearing. Heads snapped to its source, to see a Trueblade, that had jumped out of hollow mound of ground the Nobodies had set up. It had been waiting for them. Both of its scarlet katanas were drawn, ready to plunge right into Sola.

CRACK.

The first 60 calibre round caught the Nobody in the stomach, tearing a hole at least thirty centimetres wide – and stopping it in mid-air.

CRACK.

The second penetrated the Samurai's chest, ripping right through its armour and pulverising all its internal organs. The Nobody fell back to the ground.

CRACK.

The third, and final shot penetrated the Trueblade's helmet with ease, and simply left nothing of its head but a white haze hanging over a small crater in the ground.

The group felt wind over their heads, as it swept dust around the site and blew anything unsecured into the nearest wall. A Roger was Sola's saviour, the huge 60 calibre turret hanging from below the cockpit still smoking. Marines were jumping the five or six metres to the ground, breaking their fall with a forward roll and quickly getting back up. They ran toward Heather. One of them, Sola saw, had a Sergeant's insignia on their shoulder. He and Heather conversed for a moment, before they both looked curiously at Sola.

Sola quickly pretended not to be looking, instead turning her focus to Marines lowering huge Rocket Launchers, to take out Nobody tanks, along with several AB Foam devices, out of the Roger. They grabbed the heavy weapons and equipment, and began dolling it around amongst their teammates – a pair of medics also ran out to help with those already wounded. Even the poor melee-attack Marine got a brand new Combat Rifle.

"Sola!" Heather called out, smiling while waving her over. Sola trudged forward. "Sola, you have to go on the Roger and help out our guys on the Rampart." The brunette Commander said.

The Sergeant stepped forward. "Yes. We've received a call from one Corporal Kevin Nelson. He says that the Nobodies are trying to repurpose the orbital defence generators we have in the Rampart to operate their own guns, and that the remaining Marines have been reduced to defending the Control Room."

"You mean the fleet hasn't finished yet?" Sola asked, shocked.

"Well, technically, the strategy implemented by Admiral Aalie almost routed the Nobody fighter force in the air. The remainders have spread and are striking at the AOTW ground positions, which is making things very hard."

"And on the ground?"

"The last major force is the circle we're in the middle of right now. Also, we saw exactly fifteen Nobodies – ten Samurais and five Dusks – move into the Rampart. That's an elite force, and as a Keybearer, you're probably the only one who can take them on."

"But what about-" Sola began, looking at Heather.

"Don't worry," she reassured back. "We'll handle things down here. You just get to the Rampart and save those Marines!" As she said this, Heather raised her fist in a symbol of pride.

"OO-RAH!" The Marines around her cheered.

Sola turned to the Roger, newfound determination heavy on her features. "Yes Maám! It is my pride as a soldier of the Alliance Of The Worlds!" She shouted, and saluted the Marines and Heather. The Keybearer jumped into the troop bay of the Roger, and held her Keyblade close to her face. It changed form, suddenly becoming what looked like a Red version of the first Ultima Weapon Keyblade, mixed in with elements from Oblivion. The Keychain was of two crown-shaped pendants, intertwined.

"Let's go, Bond of Sisterhood." The Roger sped off towards the Rampart.

--

AOTW Warship _Hybrid Theory_, Port Royal, 1222 Local Time.

"Sir, we have a contact coming in from orbit." Said a woman sitting in front of a radar console, showing a small object tearing through the atmosphere.

"Hmm?" Admiral Anissem tore his gaze from the hologram map of warships, and stepped over to the console. "Is it one of ours? If not, I'll get Hendes to turn it into rubble." He said, glancing over at his weapons operator.

"Size three metres… weight 556 kilograms… It's a drop trooper pod." She said, getting a close up of the rapidly falling object. It was indeed a High-Velocity Atmospheric Entry Pod, colloquially a droop troop pod.

The communications officer spoke. "ID Tag confirmed, pod #224 from the heavy warship AOTW _Road To Revolution_."

"Get me a communication link!" Anissem said, returning to the Captain's chair. Admiral Hahn of the _Road To Revolution_ was on screen. "Hahn, you mind telling me why the hell you fired a single drop pod into the atmosphere?"

Hahn looked around at his bridge crew, who all shook their heads. "I'm sorry, Admiral Anissem, but… We didn't."

--

The drop pod sat, amidst the ruins of a stone wall that it had crashed into. Dust was settling around it, and the red-hot edges of the pod had cooled down. The door entry lifted off its hinges with a _hiss_ of escaping steam, and a fierce impact tore the now-bent door off the pod altogether and smashed against the wall. A dead human drop trooper flopped out of the HVAEP, limply tumbling over the stones. After stepped a clawed foot, the air thick with a husky growl.

--

A large set of stone steps led up one side of Rampart, which led straight from the ground to the roof. Sola was dropped on one of the corners of the stairs, the one before the last set going up to the roof. The girl jumped off, sure to check her Shotgun rounds and gripped tight her new Keyblade. She heard deep growling, and looked up on the stairs to see that nine Trueblades stood before her – each one snarling menacingly, swords drawn. Several were sending their blessings to the Organization, for providing them with the opportunity to reave this Keybearer until she was in pieces.

Sola suddenly felt her clothes and hair billow to the side, and she raised her hands to shield her face from the sudden gusts of air that kicked up around her. The large, propeller-adorned Nobody attack choppers flew before her, plasma cannons aiming on her very position. Just as Sola prepared to be incinerated, she heard the screaming of jet engines.

One of the choppers suddenly erupted into a ball of molten flame and fragments, spitting out fiery junk in every direction – heating the very air. As the burning rubble dropped to the ground, a blur of gray metal flew upwards, faster than Sola's eye could register. The cockpit on the blur opened, and a single figure jumped out. The vehicle, on autopilot, flew away.

The figure began falling to the rampart, and in mid-air drew a very long pistol from a holster on its belt. The person fired two shots from it, straight into the exhaust ports of the other chopper. Explosions racked its form, both externally and internally, and it began to veer out of control. Another shot was fired, with pinpoint accuracy – and ripped the propeller clean off the copper. The aircraft swerved erratically for a moment, before firing forward and smashing into the stairwell – taking five Trueblades with it in a kamikaze attempt. The flaming wreckage, along with the corpses of the five, fell off the side of the rampart – leaving only the heat and the memories to ever prove they were there.

The figure landed in front of Sola, and she saw it was clearly female. Admiral Nicola Aalie turned to Sola, smiled, and let loose her long, pink hair from her pilot's helmet. She turned up to the remaining Trueblades, and fired four shots.

Four heads exploded, the Samurais still standing as if they'd never been fired at. It took a second more, as if the bodies realized they no longer had a head – three of them fell off the stairwell to the ground below, and the last one slumped over the stairs and began to dissipate, as all dead Nobodies do.

Suddenly, the five Dusks were at the top of the stairs, setting up a plasma turret. Quicker than Sola's eye could see, Nicola once again whipped out her monstrous pistol and shot the Dusk about to fire the turret square in the face. The four fumbled to step up, and Nicola fired again – at the turret. It clicked and whirred, making a screeching noise rising in frequency until it exploded, incinerating the last four Dusks in a wall of blue flame. A pathetic pile of purple and blue wreckage lay before them.

A smoking clip slid out of the overwhelmingly powerful pistol, and clattered onto the ground. Nine shots.

"Th-that was amazing…" Sola stuttered, as Nicola fumbled on her belt for a new clip to the deadly firearm. She found one, plucked it out, and filed it into the handle, where it clicked into position.

"Any fool can fire a gun. It just seems that Trueblades are more fragile than they appear." Nicola replied. "You're doing good. I need you to reinforce the control room. I'll bring the generators back online,go up onto the roof, and clear out those anti-aircraft guns. It seems to be my forte." And with that, she did a backflip off those stone steps, only to rise up a second later on the back of her fighter plane.

As Nicola rocketed around to the generators, Sola stepped swiftly but carefully down the stones stairs, and used her Keyblade to unlock the heavy door which lead to the Rampart's inner corridors. Sola stepped inside, the hollow stone hallways dripping with water. She read her wrist data reader, which lead her to the control room. As she turned the final corner, she saw it.

The entire hallway in front of her was saturated in blood, and littered with Marine corpses. Sola struggled to hold back the bile gathering in her throat, and instead, she found herself **angry**. These were men with families, men who'd gone to save their worlds, not be torn apart by a Nobody who knew nothing of mercy. Sola drew her Shotgun from her cloak into her left hand, and she held Bond of Sisterhood in her right hand. She didn't know who did this, but she was going to make them **pay**.

--

The Town

The last Nobody tank exploded, dramatically detonating another piece of itself with every passing second. Marines cheered as Heather climbed to the top of wreckage, waving the bright AOTW flag – a serene figure, draped in long, white robes which stretched out to many different worlds, linking them with its long golden hair. The figure was neither male nor female, and its two majestic white wings bore the symbols of the Crown and Mickey Mouse head, showing affiliation to both the Keybearers and King Mickey's Monarchy. The angel held a Keyblade in one hand, and in the other, a scepter and book, donating peace and knowledge. Finally, ribbons stretched across the angel's arms, emblazoning the words, 'Luceat Lux Vestra' on the peaceful one, and 'Nil Sine Labore' on the other.

"NIL SINE LABORE! LUCEAT LUX VESTRA!" Heather shouted to her troops, celebrating their victory in the ring of Nobodies.

"NOTHING WITHOUT LABOUR! LET YOUR LIGHT SHINE!" They roared back.

Rogers swooped down, and the Marines filed into them. Nicola was inside one, having reactivated the generators, finished off the Nobody guns and fighter planes, and come back down. "The Nobody ships are in full retreat! The day is ours! The Alliance Of The Worlds is victorious!" She exclaimed ecstatically over the AOTW radio channels. Heather and Nicola ordered four Marines back as the last Roger stayed behind, an officer handing Heather four brightly coloured medals.

As Nicola and Heather stood saluting, four Marines stood in a line, saluting. Heather stepped up to the first. "For exceptional dedication to the AOTW in the line of service, I award you…"

"Eternal sleep." A voice snarled, and suddenly blood spurted from the first Marine's stomach. He clenched his wound and stumbled wildly, screaming in the utmost agony before dropping to the ground, still writhing. The other three Marines, along with the two girls, readied themselves and looked at their assailant.

It was a Nobody. A Samurai, but bigger. It had the most muscular physique of any Samurai they'd ever seen. It had a very wide Katana, which was sheathed into a sheath more scratched and withered than any they'd ever seen. It wore a huge, torn and tattered blue trenchcoat which covered its whole body, save for the black fabric covering its legs. Two belts circled its waist, connected by scratched and rusted chains. It had a gruff, almost human, face with shaggy, long, jet-black hair. Its most distinctive feature, though, was the mound of burnt, twisted and mutilated skin, nerve and bone that replaced its elbow. Sticking out of the mound was almost a smaller version of the Railgun seen on Nobody tanks. It was a Nobody sniper rifle!

The beast of a Samurai aimed its rifle-arm, and fired three times. The three marines dropped dead, blood and fragments splattered from wherever the sniper plasma had hit spilling onto the ground. Nicola immediately leapt into action, drawing her handgun. She and the Nobody circled each other, firing their incredibly powerful guns at each other, but neither hitting the other. Bullets and plasma whizzed, until both stopped in their tracks and aimed straight for the other.

The Samurai tried to fire, but snarled as a fizzling noise was all that emitted from his rifle-arm. Heather saw that the once purple lines which traveled down his mutilated arm and into his cannon had gone black. They connected to his back, onto a sort of power pack. Nicola grinned, and pulled the trigger on her handgun.

_Click_.

Nicola grimaced. Out of ammo.

The Samurai grinned as the black lines filled with purple again. "The species of man are abominations, worthy of naught but destruction! Their existence must be dashed, like a divine judgement unto the Earth! Tremble, humans of clay, for the divine judgement of the Seraphs is at hand!" The Samurai was quoting scripture as it drew its massive, thick katana. "This will end with one swing from my blessed blade. Be thankful for each second, humans. Consider yourself lucky that I will be ending your life. I am the divine punisher of all that is heretical! A perfect creation, made by the Organization themselves! My name is Zealot!"

A round burst through Zealot's head, and the beast froze. Heather stood, a few metres away, her rifle barrel smoking. A deep laugh resonated through the clearing, and Zealot turned to stare at her. "That bullet was designed to rip and tear the skin of men, as well as the flimsy shells of Nobodies. How dare you even consider that it may harm me, a true work of the divine!"

Nicola finished reloading, and dashed toward Heather. Suddenly, 60 calibre rounds tore the air. They looked up, and saw the Roger providing cover! The troop bay opened, and Admiral Anissem extended his hand. "We knew something was wrong the second it landed. We have to get out of here! Nothing we have at the moment can stop that monster!" Both girls turned to look at Zealot, who was happily letting 60 calibre bullets, designed to tear tanks piece from piece, rip through his chest. He was now standing in a pool of his own black blood. They were snapped back by Anissem. "HURRY!"

Heather grabbed Anissem's hand, and he pulled her into the dropship. Nicola followed suit, and Anissem closed the troop bay cover just as Zealot got tired of letting the shots hit him, and raised his arm-rifle at the Roger.

The dropship jolted, and a chorus of swears came from the two pilots. "Report!" Anissem shouted, the two girls behind him looking fearful.

"The freak just knocked out our 60 cal!" The pilot shouted.

"Pilot, let's get out of here! Punch it!" Nicola shouted, and the pilot nodded hastily, accelerating the Roger away at full throttle as more plasma sniper shots filled the air around them.

--

Kevin Nelson was slammed against the unforgiving rock wall, his torso being crushed by the fierce grip of the Samurai Nobody in front of him. "I have waited two weeks. Two weeks of healing, frustration, and utter resentment, just for this moment. That stupid little toy of yours, on board the _Faith In Transcendence_… How dare you even touch me with filthy human tools!" Kevin glanced at the Samurai's torso through a crack in its armour, and could see a dark red splotchy mark right where Kevin had stabbed him at the Destiny Islands.

Kevin coughed. "Two weeks? Wow, took your time getting here. I see you've recovered from that little mouth wound. How'd you get that one, cat scratch?" Kevin taunted the beast.

"That minor wound my brother gave me was easy to regrow. As for you… I'll teach you that the only wounds that won't heal are **plasma** ones." Vice snarled, lacing his words with a heavy growl. Kevin began sniggering, which made Vice roar, raising Caineghis - his legendary broadsword.

A red glint appeared from the other side of the room, quickly flying through the air. Vice noticed it and moved his hand just in time – a Keyblade embedded itself in the wall next to him, and then disappeared. Kevin dropped to the floor, landing hard on his backside. Both Samurai and sniper turned to look at the entrance.

Sola stood there, the Keyblade back in her right hand and Shotgun in her left. "Hiya." She said through gritted teeth.

Vice stared at her for a moment, and shook his head. "I will never understand you humans. I reave and slaughter my way through your armed soldiers, and yet your military sends a single girl to defeat me. You, like all the others before you, shall feel the ancient wrath of the Samurai!" He hefted Caineghis and set it alight in plasma, the huge blade ready before him, burning.

"How quaint." Sola shot back, her eyebrows are raised. "No doubt an impressive sword, but can it stand up to the Keyblade?"

Vice's eyes narrowed. "The Keyblade may be potent, but it is only as good as its wielder."

Sola's eyes narrowed. "Then let's see if I'm good enough then, hmm?"

"LET'S!" Vice roared, dashing at Sola with terrifying speed. Sola also dashed forward and ducked under Vice as he made a colossal swing. Vice twisted around and clashed blade as Sola attempted to stab upward. "Nice try!" He grinned. He lodged Caineghis in between two of the many ridges on the Bond of Sisterhood, and twisted – sending the Keyblade flying across the room, and clattering to the floor. Just as Vice prepared to deliver the final blow, a crackling sounded over the a radio nearby. Nicola's voice rang throughout the room. _"The Nobody ships are in full retreat! The day is ours! The Alliance Of The Worlds is victorious!"_

Vice's fist clenched in rage, and lashed out at the radio, screaming "COWARDS!" His fist easily reduced the radio to nothing more than a pile of smashed and twisted parts. He then turned back to Sola, and swung Caineghis at her.

Sola pushed away with her foot, sending herself gliding toward the ground. She slid across the floor and fired her Shotgun, the blast catching Caineghis in mid-air as it went through where her body was just seconds ago. The broadsword flew from Vice's hand and arced through the air, digging into the stone floor a few metres away. In anger, Vice lifted his hands, up and smashed into the ground as Sola quickly got to her knees and dashed, right through Vice's legs.

Vice snapped around, furious his strike had missed, and saw Sola standing before, him, gripping Caineghis in her small human hands. It was clearly too heavy for her, as she could only hold it at stomach height. Vice glared. "How dare you, human, try to hold my brother's sword? That blade has been gripped by my family for millennia – its hilt is not to be disgraced by your fingers!" The Samurai Leaders roared, and he whipped out a plasma weapon. "Since you can't use Caineghis, I suppose that I, Vice, Leader of the Samurais, may as well kill you the old fashioned way and pry it from your rotting form, Keybearer!"

"Vice…" Sola near-whispered, causing Vice to lower his guard a bit.

"DIE!" She screamed, rearing back with all her strength, swung forward and flung the blazing blade right back at its owner. Vice was horrified as the blade swung right wards his face…

And cut half of his jaw off. The wound caught alight, and Vice roared in pain for the first in a long time. He clutched the wound as his very blood boiled, the plasma eating away mercilessly. Filled with incomprehensible rage, he ripped Caineghis out of the wall it was imbedded in, and swung it into the ground – cleaving through anything in its path.

Suddenly, the wall blew in beside them – sending a few stone blocks flying and a cloud of dust and rubble settled, to reveal a Nobody dropship. Vice calmed, let go of his wound, and turned to Sola. He grinned a grin of respect, and bowed, before dashing into the dropship and flying off into the distance.

--

AOTW warship _Hybrid Theory_, Port Royal, 1248 Local Time.

Nicola and Heather stood in front of Anissem. "So… We have the name of the Samurai Leader, Vice. And another some sort of religious warrior. You said his name was Zealot?"

"Yes, Admiral." Said Nicola and Heather in unison.

"This may be a tough challenge. To fight a Nobody who can regenerate. We'd need more powerful weapons." Anissem said.

"Weapons like this, Sir?" Nicola asked, holding up her beastly handgun. For this first time, Heather noticed engravings along the side of the barrel.

Alliance Of The Worlds 'Firestorm Project' Mk. I – Clad In Steel

"Absolutely right, Nicola. With enemies like Vice and Zealot on the move, Leon will have to give us the funding we need to rebuild the Firestorm Project." Anissem said, pulling a series of old documents from his drawer. There appeared to be blueprints inside.

"Your next orders, Sir?" Heather asked, changing the subject.

"Oh yes, of course. The heavy fleet is moving out, and I want you two, plus Kevin and Sola, to accompany me to the Olympus Coliseum. Currently under siege."

"I've heard Sora's fighting there. What's the situation?" Heather asked, eager to hear Sora's state.

"Unfortunately…" Anissem stalled. "They're completely overrun. Their fleet has been completely separated from their ground forces. So while the ground forces lost supplies, both the fleet and the ground troops are just being picked off one at a time. Last I saw of Sora, he was being held up by a Berserker Nobody, but he used a grenade and escaped." The girl's expressions were mixtures of shock and awe. "He's the only hope they have left. He's almost messianic to the Marines left."

Anissem stood up, emotion rising in his voice. "What we need to do is get in there, and blow to smithereens every last Nobody between space and the surface! I will not stand by and human worlds be destroyed, and innocent lives be lost!" He calmed again, but the girls had anger and determination in their eyes. "You two are dismissed." He said calmly, wearing a smile.

"Sir! I'll ready all fighters and dropships, Sir!" Nicola said, saluting fiercely and leaving the room.

"I'll check up on all ground forces, Sir!" Heather said, and also turned.

"Oh, wait, Commander Frances-"

Heather turned back around.

"It's good to see you alive, Commander."

Heather smiled and left the room. "Thank you, Admiral."

--

Deep space, unknown location, unknown time.

The _March of Righteousness_, a Nobody stealth warship, fizzed into plain view as a single Nobody dropship flew toward it. Inside sat the two strongest Samurai Nobodies and thus, the two strongest lesser Nobodies in existence.

"Well, Vice, all I did was kill some heathens of clay in the name of our noble advance and the Gods of this universe, the Seraphs. Mind telling me if your end of the mission was a success or a failure?" Zealot smirked.

"Well, we had no definite goal to begin with, so it was a definite success." Vice said back to him, still smirking.

"Hah!" Zealot laughed, folding his arm over his rifle. "Spoken like a true anarchist. I take it you're looking forward to fighting that girl again, right?"

Vice paused, for a moment, and gripped Caineghis. He lifted it up to his wound, feeling the tip irritate the bloodied tissue. He set the broadsword alight, feeling the flames lick his exposed skin, and the sensation of combat rose inside of him. "Oh yes…" He snarled. He turned to Zealot, and looked up at the roof of the dropship as it was brought into the stealth warship.

"There's plenty of fun to be had yet. This war is just beginning."

-----


	3. The Battle of Olympus Coliseum

FINALLY completed this damn chapter! Sorry it took so long, and sorry it is so infernally long! I hope you like it, I did put quite a bit of effort into it, as you see by the over six thousands words content. Sorry if it seems stale in places, but this chapter has suffered delays and setbacks time and time again - it's lost its lustre, so I'm gonna be happy to start working on a fresh plate for the next one! Anyway, here it is!

--

The Human-Nobody War

Chapter 3 – The Battle of Olympus Coliseum

In the void of space, near the Olympus Coliseum, light particles drifted where they hadn't been mere moments earlier. First they drifted few and far between, then more shone into existence and roamed the vacuum. In seconds, a flotilla of the particles were in space, darting erratically from point to point as more and more appeared, and in moments the millions upon billions of motes of light exploded into a shockwave circle, which spread about a kilometre in circumference and suddenly stopped, revealing within itself a canvas of rolling purple anomalies and lattices of strange blue lightning. The realm of subspace.

Out of the void slid a grey mass, titanium lined with endless crevices and extrusions which served a million different purposes. The Alliance of the Worlds battleship slid out of the alternate dimension, comfortably passing through the ring of light which divided normal space from the highly volatile spectrum, torn open by the warship's Gummi Drive.

When the AOTW had been established, a number of prodigious human scientists had needed the ability to travel from the planets under its care far quicker than regular, nuclear-powered travel, which offered good service but would take years for intergalactic travel. Of course, the easy way had been to make the ships out of Gummi much like the ones Sora used, which interacted with the dimensional flux around it and actually combined regular space and 'subpresent space' to create a pathway that allowed extreme distances to be travelled in a matter of minutes and hours. It could be considered like the space in the middle of a Venn Diagram.

However, Gummi was already in short supply, with nowhere near enough in the human stockpiles to create full ships out of, so the group invented an alternative that combined current human technology with abilities beyond its reach. The Gummi Drive, one that used Gummi's matter and space-bending properties to combine its energy output with that of nuclear power, and physically tear open a hole in dimensional flux and enter the raw field of subpresent space, or subspace for short. This cut travel times to days or weeks, rather than months or years. It was a marvel of human engineering, and solved promptly the problems of distance and urgency within the Alliance of the Worlds.

However, none of this was at the forefront of Admiral Vincienzo Anissem's mind as the AOTW _Hybrid Theory_ sped in-system at speeds only a spaceship could reach. "Bring weapons online," he barked, "and wake up all nonessential crew. We could have jumped right into a combat zone here." He heard the holo pad beside him switch on. "Teague, report. Give me a SitRep on the current situation." As the A.I. accessed the files necessary for Anissem's requested Situation Report, he was also doing a million other things as well – like checking the Gummi Drive's core temperatures after the jump (operating at normal parameters) and charging the ship's Main Burst Cannon (76 percent charged at a rate of 7 percent a minute). This made him extremely helpful to all hands on deck, even down to the little things like when they could eat their 'Instant Heat and Eat' meals. That didn't mean they were eager to, though.

"Yes, Sir. Two Nobody vessels jumped out of Subspace about an hour and a half ago. All ships in system at the time – AOTWs _Advent of War_, _Bullet In A Bible_, _Peacemaker_, _Homer's Odyssey_ and _Lost For Words_ moved to engage. The _Odyssey_, with assistance from _Bullet_, caught one with its shields off and used their MBC's in a one-two punch combo, gutting the ship's control centre with the first hit and promptly destroying it with the second. The second Nobody ship, however, got itself together. We lost the _Odyssey_, _Lost For Words_ and _Bullet In A Bible_, though Auron made it off the ship and to the surface without much trouble. The Nobodies launched boarding parties to delay the _Peacemaker_, which is stationary and repelling said boarding parties. Finally, the _Advent of War_ is venting atmosphere in all nonessential sectors to put out fires – it's sustained very heavy damage."

"I see. That means our second bogie is involved in surface combat. Troops, air cover, etc." Anissem said, watching the small holographic diagram of the battle and the world in front of him. It showed the surviving (albeit damaged) Nobody ship hovering in the atmosphere, above what looked like a swarming flood of red enemy contacts.

"Yes. As you can see, flying below the remaining ship are 1021 Nobody fliers and dropships that escaped before their ships were shot down from orbit. They've established bases, and the constant air cover is not only pinning down our troops, its resupplying theirs." Teague said, pulling up a zoom-in of the hologram. Minute, toy-like craft hovered about. "However, up here, the scores stand at 14 human ships destroyed so far – for 26 Nobody ones." Teague continued, pulling up a list of the ships and their Captains who were K.I.A. next to the SitRep.

"Fourteen for twenty-six? That's unrealistic. The general match for human against Nobody ships is three or four to one. How did we reverse that? There's no mention here of any Special Warfare ships – in fact, I oversaw the construction of some of these." He pointed at two ships on the list, the _Scylla and Charybdis_ and _¡Viva La Gloria!_. "Those two are carriers. No way a fleet with carriers in it would have SpecWar."

"Quite right, Admiral. But you forget that Olympus Coliseum's underground bunkers are the headquarters of SpecWar Research and Development." Teague informed, displaying a brief list of current R&D projects.

"Specwar R&D… Last I heard, they were working on a Main Burst Cannon that compressed the size of the magnetic coils and fired a larger projectile. Four times the power, to destroy Nobody ships with only one or two shots." Anissem said, recalling the research which was being used as morale on human worlds.

"You are correct in that, but what you haven't been informed about was that they failed. The guns were a success, but they leave a full minute of no power inside the ship after firing. So they've been working on a prototype Super MBC, in the form of an orbital defence platform – A dedicated station simply to power the cannon." Teague went on, speaking very fast, as if he could barely contain his excitement. "They're the reason the Nobodies have more casualties than us – We've been gutting them the second they're out of subspace. And Sir, we still have four on-station."

The bridge door slid open, and in walked Heather, Ares and Kevin. "We're all accounted for, and the marines are getting suited up." Heather reported, striding over to the hologram near Anissem. "Sir, we've gotten a distress call from our long-range sensors. Take a look at this." She connected a small data chip for her wrist-data pad to the central display. A camera image flickered to life.

The stone and marble of the town was ruined, with rubble strewn all across the street. The camera's vision was on a wall, obviously disguised as the three Nobody Trueblades there had no idea they were being watched. Suddenly, in a blur of silver and gold, a Samurai lost its head. The second one barely fumbled with its pistol before being impaled by a black and yellow blur. The final one stood still before the body realized it was already dead – sliced across the waist by an invisible strike. Sora lifted his head, looked grim but determined, turned back, and gestured forward. From the hiding position behind him ran Riku, Kairi and a small horde of marines as a Nobody dropship pulled in from the sky. It fired a bolt of plasma and missed, splashing over the wall and shorting out the camera.

Anissem darted from the central display to the Captain's chair. "All hands to combat stations! This ship is going red!"

"Yes, Sir. Starting up alert systematics. Should I aim the MBC down at the world to down that Nobody vessel?" Teague said, as the bridge crew heard alarm klaxons ring out across the ship and Teague's voice blaring out many different orders at once to the various groups on the ship. Since Teague oversaw every technical system on the _Hybrid Theory_, he could split his image and voice to communicate on a thousand speakers and screens at once – and not reduce his processing power by even one tenth.

"No, Teague. While it would destroy that ship, along with a considerable fraction of the blanket of smaller craft below it, we wouldn't want to rain down thousands of kilograms of flaming ship on our own forces, or even worse – miss completely and blast the civilians' hiding place with the strongest shipboard weapon in the AOTW arsenal." Anissem brought up his own schematic of the SitRep, and formed his own plan.

"I'll need Admiral Aalie and her fighter plane forces to dive down from above and blitzkrieg a rather large hole in the blanket of aircraft. Once we've cleared out the immediate area, Ares and her Drop Troopers will drop to the surface and secure a foothold outside the town. Once the skies are satisfactorily cleared, two separate dropship fleets - myself in Alpha Group and Kevin in Bravo Group – will secure our position. If we're lucky, we'll be able to set up a base with some fortifications. From there, our highest priority will be to evacuate any and all civilians we find. We'll need to meet up with the Keybearers and their remnant groups, and, if we can, try an active campaign against the Nobody forces." He paused, and sighed to himself lifting a hand and scratching his head.

"I hate to say it, but… We may not be able to save this world. If the Nobodies have already sent for reinforcements, then the best we may be able to do is rescue everyone we can and evacuate every available ship outta here." He admitted, not looking very happy. He was thinking. Suddenly he looked up, noticing the somber looks of the four gathered in front of them. He offered a tired, but humoured grin. "Well, does that mean you can just stand around? What happened to the fervour you were just showing?" He stood, offering up a hearty laugh. "Marines of the AOTW, to arms!"

"HOO-RAH!" The four shouted in unison, then ran off the bridge to their respective forces.

--

Nicola Aalie's fighter force burst through the atmosphere, flying in a Delta formation. Nicola herself was at point, waiting until her missile lock got the nearest five or so Nobody vessels in range. Suddenly her targeting reticule blinked red on the nearest targets, and she clicked fire – sending five missiles trailing smoke towards their nearest targets.

Three fighters and dropship swerved up to face the incoming fighters, but instead erupted into small suns of flame, detonating gas and falling debris. The fighters punched through the minute hole that had caused, and split into groups of two - each one covering the other, and freely engaging the enemy craft.

The Nobody planes stumbled to meet the threat but could do little against the mastery of Nicola's hand-picked and self-trained pilots. At this point, the human planes' only worry was running out of ammo.

Meanwhile, ten Roger dropships closed their troop bay doors and departed from the _Hybrid Theory_, racing through and clearing Olympus Coliseum's atmosphere at best speed. "Everything checks out." Said the pilot leader, noticing a new, two-kilometre area that Admiral Aalie's fighters had cleared the Nobodies out of. The Rogers made for a low, flat area that was well covered on nearly all sides by the ruins of the city marketplace.

The marines deployed before the Rogers touched ground, with Anissem Kevin on point. Several hoisted out turrets, setting them up at the unprotected points of the base. Several more watched as human HVAEPs smashed into the town, carrying with them determined drop troopers – led by Ares – to wrench the city from the kicking and screaming Nobodies defending it. The Nobodies in the sky scattered as the human fighters began mopping up the residue of their air force.

--

The bunker shook again. "Shisenhausen, that was close." A marine said as the lights flickered off and on again. Riku was regulating all their remaining ammo and supplies, Sora was healing the wounded and Kairi was at the radio, checking on the outside situation.

"Suck it up, Marine." Riku said as he checked his own rifle, a sniper loaded with explosive rounds.

"We've got Marines and drop troopers on the ground." Kairi said, slipping off her headphones. "The AOTW _Hybrid Theory_ dropped in not fifteen minutes ago. The marines have a stable foothold, and the drop troopers are trying to thin out the Nobody lines in the city, as well as looking for us." She reported, smoothing out the wrinkles on her grey skirt.

"Right. Kai- I mean, Commander - with your permission, I'd like to start up our salvaging operation." Sora said, still getting used to the militarization. Kairi was a Commander, and a co-pilot of the ship _Peacemaker_, which was still in the fight. Sora, on the other hand, was a Sergeant, a rank usually reserved for hardcore, shotgun-toting bodybuilders who were patriotic to the death. Of course, such men usually stepped aside instantly should a Keybearer offer his or her input. Riku was a Lieutenant, who switched between the drop troopers and marines.

"That's fine, Sor- Erm, you have my permission. Proceed, Sergeant." Kairi also seemed to be having lapses about that sort of thing. The Keybearers couldn't help but feel a moment of kinship with their others, scattered about the galaxy. Sola had been sent to Twilight Town ahead to deliver the report on the Battle of Port Royal. Roxas was in the armoured vehicle divisions, rolling tanks through the stalemate campaign on the Pride Lands. Xolas was constantly flying troops and supplies from place to place on the rapidly failing campaign in Atlantica. Namine was in the Force Communications Office, hot on the trail of the human informant. Finally, Mickey worked as Commodore Leon's right-hand man, directing their fleets around the galaxy.

"Right then." Sora began after a brief silence. "So Riku, I want you to take our wounded and most of our Marines, gather up the civilians from their hiding spot, and get them all back to the main group. Kairi, myself, and –" He quickly pointed at two marines. "-You two will come with us to what's left SpecWar Headquarters and gather what we can." The marines chattered their affirmatives and a weary, sweat-stenched air of activity surrounded the group of survivors.

--

Ares unleashed her Glock .22's, scoring a couple of perfect headshots on nearby Berserkers. The Nobodies hadn't, it seemed, entrenched themselves too well in the city. Then again, destroyed Nobody turrets and temporary bunkers littered the streets. Human counter-attack seemed to be a regular occurrence.

Ares' drop troopers followed closely behind her. Truth is, these drop troopers weren't the ones of popular image or fiction, half-crazy career marines insane enough to jump out of spaceships in pods. No, the AOTW's drop troopers were primarily engineers, strategists and tacticians, and to a lesser extent, scientists - whose job was to reconnoiter the area and assess the situation, form plans, identify equipment, et cetera. They were also very well-trained for shock and heat insertions, and gravities of all sorts.

"Looks like the bastards haven't set up a central camp." One said, carrying a thermal vision panel and scanning nearby objects that could be used as cover.

"Well, with that much air cover, you wouldn't need one." Another grumbled, hefting the group's only RPG launcher.

"Hey, look!" A third shouted and pointed up to the sky, drawing the group attention to one or two fighters from Nicola's squadron tearing apart a small flight of dropships. Two of them got hit by the same shell, veered and span, then tried to desperately to direct their downward course. Ares quickly dashed up the remains of a small shop to see brief dual explosions of white in the distance.

"Over there. They both tried to crash in the same place." Ares reported back to her troopers. "Which means, there's something tasty over there, and that also means we're headed to have a taste test."

When at last they got to the crash site, the drop troopers began darting from one position of cover to another, keeping their silenced rifles trained in the shattered entrances to the marble buildings, to the potential hiding places that were the few houses left uncollapsed. A small recon unit of Dusks and a Samurai had gotten the same idea they had – and all three Dusks had been shot dead before the Samurai even knew they were being fired upon. Quickly darting into action, he pulled back into cover - and tried to send a distress signal from the device on his waist.

There was no time for precision aim. The drop trooper with the RPG launcher stood from his cover and fired his shot, the canister spiraling through the air toward its target. The explosion rocked the whole block of buildings as the broken pillar – and the Nobody behind it – were obliterated in a miniature storm of flame and shrapnel. Dust was shaken off the buildings above, and the shifting of the rubble around them made Ares nervous.

"Drop trooper squad, this is Riku. What's your position?" Ares had just pulled up her radio when one of her squad dropped dead, plasma in his back.

"We're under fire, Riku!" She said as the bolts of flame began screaming over their heads. "I'm setting up a waypoint on the radar, can we get some support? We think there's something of importance here!"

"You most certainly can get support! I've got each and every marine left on this God-forsaken World here with me, so we're coming to secure whatever it is they've got there!"

--

Sora and Kairi ascended the last of the steps to the command room of the SpecWar headquarters. After the Nobody attack, the entire facility had entered lockdown containment, and it had required gratuitous use of the Keyblade's ability to unlock doors to get to the highly secure location. Unlocking the door, the two entered the extremely large room – which looked more like a museum exhibit than a military experiment. Ground-based inventions, almost all of them large, lay strewn about on the floor – near the specimen elevator that would transport them to the ceiling. Whilst Sora milled about the machines, Kairi dashed over to the consoles and computer.

She inserted the chip from her wrist data-reader into the main console, and spoke to Teague on the _Hybrid Theory_. "Teague, could you please get these main consoles taken off data export? I'm downloading everything, and I don't care if I have authority or not."

"I'll do it, purely because I like your **style**." Teague replied eagerly, and activated the main console. Kairi immediately tapped the necessary keys, beginning the download.

"Uh, Kairi…" Sora began, and the redhead turned to see exactly what Sora was looking at Sora quickly moved between Kairi and the hunching figure in the doorway.

"Shall we step out, champion Keybearer, so that the lady doesn't see your dismembered corpse?" Zealot announced, stepping through the door, Katana hanging from his left hand, rifle-arm fully charged.

"After you, of course!" Sora replied. "Wouldn't want your ugly mug being the last thing for her beautiful eyes to see!"

"Oh, a human in **love**." He snarled. "What a perversion of such sacred feelings. I will enjoy ripping this mockery, this **waste**, of love from you." He grumbled, as he stepped out.

--

The ground still smoked from the battle. In the city's worth of rubble, cover and weaponry, the Nobodies hadn't gone down easily. Even when all cover for them was extinguished, they'd formed a line and tried to hold off the humans with sheer defensive numbers, to no avail. Now, the group watched the squadron of five Roger dropships take off, carrying off the last remaining living citizens of Olympus Coliseum up to the _Hybrid Theory_, with Aalie's fighter squadron acting as escort. Ares turned her attention from the unharassed civilian transport to the place the Nobodies had been defending.

"Well, I'll be. What have we here?" Ares wondered, as she and Riku stepped over the corpses of the last line of Nobodies who had fallen bravely defending this point. The ground sloped down into a shallow crater, with a large white plate resting at the bottom. Atop the white plate was a swirling mass of purple and black flame – which everyone recognized as a corridor of darkness.

"Teague, I want you to scan the air for any corridor of darkness movements. I want to know exactly what's on the other side of this thing." Riku said to the A.I. as the marines kept their rifles trained on the corridor, should any new horror emerge from the swirling flames. "Tell me where this ends up." He said, primed a grenade, and threw it into the portal.

They didn't hear a thing.

"Got it, concussive fragmentation blast detected. Minimal damage to target vessel… Seven registered impacts? Analysing…" He paused for a second, reading the data and examining the pattern readout of the fragmentation impacts. "…Okay. The layout of frag hits are identical to that hitting the bodies of three different Samurai Nobodies. The co-ordinates read that's on the _Tomb Of Unfaith_, that Nobody ship that's been hanging above your heads, but it's direct signal is being jammed, making me unable to pinpoint its position on the ship. However, it impacting the Samurais means it's probably either in the barracks or the hangar."

"Barracks or hangar… Perfect." Ares grinned. "Tell me, Teague, did R&D have some sort of a specimen launcher? You know, a sort of cannon to test fire weaponry."

"Of course, such a launcher is compulsory… The one in the base is reading working order… Why?" Teague questioned, not noticing the grin ever-growing on her face.

"Because, Teague, we're gonna show them just how terrible the big, bad humans are. We aren't gonna go down easy, and we're going to show them that with whatever the Hell piques my interest in there!" She yelled, voicing her enthusiasm, turning off the radio before Teague or Anissem could answer back. "Buckle up, marines! We're heading for Research and Development headquarters!" She said to her soldiers, cocking Angel and Demon.

--

Zealot grinned menacingly, quickly pivoting on his foot and launching himself at Sora, Katana reared. Sora quickly dodge-rolled under Zealot, twisted up and threw three quick jabs at the beastly Nobody. One sliced through the air as the Samurai craned his neck to avoid the stab, another felt the clunk of colliding with Zealot's rifle-arm, and the final one dashed past Zealot's nonchalant efforts to defend himself and tore through his sickly gray-white skin.

Zealot snarled and swung his arm around, smashing the hilt of his katana into Sora's head. The Keybearer lost his balance, toppling to the hard AOTW-regulation metal floor. Sora rolled awkwardly, stopping on his knees – his eyes were blurring, with stars blocking his vision and his head filled with a splitting pain. Zealot grabbed the Keyblade lodged in his gut and wrenched it out, tossing the Oathkeeper to the floor.

"Your heretical race follows the divine light of your Key – but even you, its chosen wielder, are too weak." He growled, rearing his heavy, powerful foot and slamming it into Sora's side – the brunette let out a muffled cry as the kick spun and rammed him into a cold steel bulkhead.

Sora glanced upwards. He could taste blood. His blood. Zealot advanced on him, and Sora noticed the glistening, revolting membrane that pooled on the ground from the wounds. "Of-of course…" Sora stammered, as his eyesight shimmered into focus. "Your entire body is pumped full of that liquid fungus, isn't it? Wounds and infection cause the bacteria and fungi to compound… Which explains your regeneration."

"Smart boy." Zealot warbled, forcing a rough hand around Sora's waist. Sora felt the length of Zealot's rifle-arm against his throat as the monster lifted him off the ground while keeping him pressed to the wall. Sora scrambled and struggled to get free, but the Nobody's vice grip was unrelenting. "How dare you speak ill of the body I use to exterminate you vermin?" He drew back his katana, which shone a soft blue in the pale fluorescent lights. His voice reached a disturbing note, a high gargle which could fill vacuum with its presence. "**This is MY body, created by the DIVINE! You humans are but weak, and JEALOUS of our perfection!**"

Sora mumbled something.

"**What was that?**" The Samurai asked, a foul glare on his face.

"Didn't you ever go to kindergarten? NO-ONE'S PERFECT!" Sora shouted, summoning the Oathkeeper back to his hand and jabbing the sharp star-shaped blades into Zealot's neck. "First thing they ever teach you there!" Sora taunted as the beast roared, rearing back and letting out a long, loud cry of agony.

The monster snaked his neck around, Colliding his head into Sora's own. The warrior followed up by raising his blade and – quickly and without hesitation or fanfare – rammed the edge into Sora's abdomen. The brunette tensed up, blood leaking from his mouth, then slumped limp, Zealot's own katana pinning him effortlessly.

Zealot began laughing, a low, guttural noise that would have chilled any other to their bones. Seconds later, a flash and a burst of noise rang out from just next to the Nobody. Zealot roared in pain, clutching as a shotgun slug tore itself open and threw eight burning pellets into his skin.

Kairi dropped the prototype Incendiary Shotgun and followed up by summoning her Keyblade and slicing all the way up Zealot's body to his jaw. His body seemed to split, as the white fungus reproduced beyond count, pouring out of his wounds, trying to seal the split skin and repair the body that could no longer hold it. The beast choked and fell to the ground, trying to struggle up on his wrists and knees.

Kairi kicked his head upwards, pulled out her backup pistol, and unloaded all six rounds from the gun into the Nobody's face. Zealot fell again, still gargling, emitting foul noises of pain and consternation. Then, he slammed his fist down on the ground, indenting the ground and lifting his entire body onto its feet in an enormous display of strength. He pulled Katana out of its metre-deep slice in the wall without any effort, and let loose a frighteningly fast kick that knocked the pistol from Kairi's hand. Without the katana to hold it up, Sora's body dropped soundlessly off the wall.

Kairi did a large step or two backwards as the Nobody charged, kicking up hardened and raw fungi behind him. In his rage he stamped on the shotgun, crushing its stock. The last pellets left burned briefly and then sizzled away impotently in the cold air of the base. Finally, Zealot brought down Katana from over his head at Kairi – who could only just block the blow with her Keyblade.

"Girl!" He spat. "You're not even worthy of being **excrement**!" He snarled, driving her back with his blade. "Running you through will be even easier than your **mating partner**." He pointed towards where Sora had been impaled. "But of course, I'm going to take my **time** with you. Savour every moment of your **screams**."

"Oh no, if I were you, I'd do it quick. Or else my knight in shining armour will come back to life!" She said, smiling. "Stabbed him through? Ha. He is FAR more powerful than any of you Nobody scum could possibly imagine." Zealot stepped forward, about to interject in his rage, when the Ultima Weapon burst through his stomach. Fungi leaked forth from the Nobody's mouth.

Kairi whipped up the pistol, slammed in her last clip and fired every round the magazine held into Zealot's head. "Freak of nature." She said, with fury in her deep blue eyes. "Did you possibly think we'd fight in a Special Warfare base and NOT have Special Warfare guns?" She said, as the bullet holes in Zealot's head began to burn a bright red.

"These bullets expand…!" He hissed in shock.

"No." Kairi said calmly, dropping the pistol. "They explode."

The beast's head did just that, and erupted in all directions, fungi splashing all over the ceiling, walls and floor. Barely recognizable body fragments also spilt onto the floor. The twitching body stood for a second more and then collapsed, slamming onto the ground. "I think we freakin' just killed him." Kairi said, dismissing her Keyblad and casting another wary eyes at the wreckage of a body.

"Killed?" Sora asked incredulously. "Killed is nothing, compared to that there."

Kairi giggled at the dark humour of her boyfriend, stared at him for a second, and then flung her arms around his neck, wrapping him tightly in her embrace. "You had me worried there. I always worry when you do your amazing play dead act." She said.

Sora returned the embrace, forgetting all about the chain of command. There was no thing when it came to love. "And I get worried about you too, especially when you take on the most dangerous Nobody currently in their armed forces, alone!" He laughed, sinking his head into her shoulder as he had done.

"_Sora, Kairi, this is Ares and Riku. We're en route to you guys – we've got a package to deliver to the skies above!"_ Burst out from their radios, causing the two to break their hug and look around sheepishly. "Looks like we both bigger things to worry about." Kairi finally said, leading the run back up to the R&D command centre.

--

"So, let me get this straight." Teague began.

"Yep, let's run through it again." Ares followed.

"So, we've got Roger dropships en route to pick you up from the R&D centre, while you lot prime these bombs."

"Good so far."

"In roughly seven minutes, the first bomb will activate, causing a short-wave Electro-Magnetic Pulse that will completely erase and destroy every single computer in this facility."

"Exactly. Even though the Nobodies are going to destroy this entire world, we can't risk them doing some last-minute information salvaging."

"Assuming you can get airborne within five minutes like you estimated, that leaves two minutes for the first, and a further three for the second. This long is a long distance EMP blast we will fire from the specimen cannon on this base, which has been primed and geared to fire manually instead of electronically. This second blast will affect every computer within a very large distance, effectively making every airborne thing in the air drop out of the sky."

"Presto."

"Sounds damn good to me. Cutting it close, but we should make it."

"And not a second too soon." Anissem added, from the _Hybrid Theory_. "Guys, things have started getting hot up here. We've already had three Nobody ships come out of Subspace. All three have been destroyed by the orbital guns, but there's only two such guns left. The _Advent Of War_ has already left, as it was ferrying the civilians."

"Roger that, Anissem. We'll be out of there within ten minutes. Tell my bridge crew and my A.I., Harrison, that they are cleared- no, ordered, to leave this World and report back to Traverse Town immediately." Kairi said, getting the _Peacemaker_ to safety.

"Message delivered. I'll be waiting up here until the second EMP bomb goes off. Good luck, people." Anissem said, and then snapped off the communications. The group looked to the sky. The Roger fleet was at least four minutes out. An army of Nobodies had emerged out of the corridor of darkness, and was closing in with every passing second.

"Game on." Sora said grimly.

--

"Hold it steady!" A Berserker grunted, trying to hold the trashing stretcher.

"Harder- than it looks, brute!" The Samurai on the other end grunted. "Seriously, why do the Organization want this warrior alive so badly? He is unnatural, and the humans have bested him often!"

"Perhaps the answer is easier to see than it seems. His head was blown off…"

The Nobody, Zealot, continued to thrash around on his wounded stretcher, his newly-grown skull visible through the regenerating brains and organs.

"…And yet he's still alive." The Samurai finished, loading the body into the stealth dropship, which then wasted no time in speeding to space.

--

Riku rampaged through the Nobody ranks, his Keyblade silencing beast after beast. Sora dual-wielded his Keyblades, whizzing atop the battlefield in Master Form. Finally, Kairi had dropped to one knee, not in submission but defense, as any Nobody who escaped the wrath of the two boys was swiftly cut down by single swipes of her floral Keyblade.

With a roar of the jet engines, Aalie swooped down in her fighter plane. "Silly fools, their numbers cannot harm us!" She joked, firing her machine guns down near where the Nobodies were climbing the walls of the structure. The edge of the ceiling gave way to the heavy fire, collapsing and causing the Nobodies gripping onto the structure to fall, wailing down as they plummeted into a cascade of bodies and rubble. She smiled a grim smile as she saw the plume of black smoke of dissolving Nobodies rise from the mess.

Ares shot down the last three Nobodies, all of whom were too shocked by the multiple falling of their comrades to defend themselves from the .22 calibre bullets. Coinciding with the fall of the creatures, the dropship hovered down before them, it's troop bay open. "Let's go, everyone! Dust off!" Ares declared as her and the remaining marines clambered into the bay. Riku and Kairi soon followed, but Sora looked and saw something. A shimmer, rising quickly into the distance. A burst of blue engine plasma quickly shot from it.

"Damn…" Sora muttered under his breath. "If that's carrying what I think it is, there'll be much more trouble yet."

"SORA!" Riku yelled. "Come ON! We've got like thirty seconds before the first EMP!"

Sora turned and dashed, delivering a spectacular leap into the dropship. "Always an eye for theatrics…" A marine commented as the Roger closed its doors and soared high into the sky, leaving the base, and the empty world, behind to be wiped from existence.

--

Sora, Riku, Kairi, Aalie and Ares all stepped into the bridge. Anissem stood over the analysis of the world's surface. "Welcome back, you lot. I'm pleased to report that both of your bombs went off. Both succeeded in their missions, as well. SpecWar R&D Olympus Coliseum is wiped clean, with a copy produced kudos to Kairi." Anissem said, and Teague continued. "Also, the second bomb landed square on the corridor, teleported into the hangar of the Nobody warship, and it was one of 868 Nobody craft that simply fell from the sky, crushing their inhabitants and every living being on the surface below." He said, with a kind of grim satisfaction.

"And at the cost of fifteen of your marines, two of Are's drop troopers, and three of Nicola's fighter pilots." Anissem said solemnly, and the commanders of the sortie hung their heads alongside his. Each soldier has been so enthusiastic, so damn full of life, that it was hard to imagine it drained for them. It seemed a bastardisation of their good memory.

"All in all though, it was an enormously successful mission. We've managed to reverse the tables on the Nobodies for the first time in the war. Teague, get us into Subspace. Let's go back to Traverse Town. We all need some R&R." Anissem said, walking back to his captain's chair and sinking down into it, dismissing the others.

Outside, in the void of space, almost a hundred rips appeared in Subspace and the grand Nobody fleet that emerged from it began charging their plasma cannons, prepared for the flames to eat the world alive. The last two orbital cannons fired, but bounced off the shields of these mighty flagships. Two single plasma cannons fired, and the guns were promptly silenced.

As the plasma began to destroy the Olympus Coliseum, the AOTW _Hybrid Theory_ and its endlessly important crew retreated back into the safety of Subspace. Traverse Town was only a day or so away, but safety was a lot farther than that.


End file.
